


Legend of Harry Potter

by KaiserLink1871



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Action/Adventure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22176265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaiserLink1871/pseuds/KaiserLink1871
Summary: Hogwarts will be hosting its first Hylian professor. The person chosen for this task will be Link the Hero of Time. However Link will be surprised at how much trouble three certain students can cause along with the shadows of his past who choose now to show their ugly heads.
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

Mountains, forests, and rivers surround the nearby landscape. The quiet scenery is nothing short of breathless, with the sky shining brightly and the stillness of the air giving this an almost picture like image. But the silence is suddenly broken by the faint sounds of the Hogwarts Express, which could be heard for miles. On board the train hundreds of anxious students sat, talking to their friends about their summers trips and excitement for the upcoming year. In one cabin towards the middle of the train sat Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter, the golden trio of Hogwarts. Hermione was reading a book on new spells and techniques, her bushy brown hair slightly covering her eyes, making in somewhat difficult to read. Ron sat across from her, complaining about how the food cart had not arrived yet and how he was starving for something to eat. Harry sat next to him, his head against the window watching the scenery fly by, his thoughts somewhere else. 

“Ugh how far are we? I’m starving!” Ron complained, slumping into his eat. 

“Is food all you care about? What about your education Ron?” replied Hermione, looking over the top of her book. 

“I do to think about my education…after I eat of course.” Ron said, laughing at his own statement. 

Harry had his mind on other matters. As he stared out the window, his friends voices dulled in the background, he was trying to forget what he did to his aunt.

“Harry? Are you thinking about her?” 

Harry shook his head, snapping out of his dazed, and turned to the source of the question, Hermione. She had but her book down on the floor and her whole focus was on him.

“Of course not, all she did was insult my parents! I feel no remorse for what I did even though I was an accident.” Harry said angrily, turning back towards the window. 

It became quiet within the cabin after that, Hermione not knowing what to say and Ron…well he was just being Ron. Suddenly there was a knock at the cabin door. Ron got up and opened the door, a puzzled look on his face. Outside the door stood figure in a black robe, the persons face shrouded because of the hood. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt but may sit here? The other cars are full” the figure asked, it had a deep voice so it was clearly a man under the robe. 

“Yes you may.” replied Hermione, turning away from Harry and smiling at the man. 

The man sat down next to Hermione and laid his hooded head against the wall and appeared to go to sleep. The only thing visible on him other then the robe was a pair of brown boots and some bandages on his left hand.

“Guess he’s not in the talking mood…” said Harry, staring at the man. 

“He’s probably starving like me!” Ron joked, chucking a bit. 

“Well if that fact that is true then my theory on men is true. Nothing but mindless animals…” Hermione said sarcastically, a smile still on her face. 

The three friends laughed, and then they turned their attention to their schedules. Looking over the schedule, Hermione noticed the defense against the dark arts class. After what happened the previous year, Lockhart would not be making another appearance as their teacher as far as she knew. 

“Who do you think Dumbledore got for DADA this year, considering they all keep dropping like flies…” said Hermione, looking up from the schedule at her two friends. 

“I don’t know, I just wished it was someone who actual knew something about the dark arts…” Harry responded, shaking his head.

The train then came to a sudden stop, slamming Harry and Ron against the wall and sending Hermione to the floor. The lights went off and a slow frost started to develop on the windows. The trio stared at the door as a creature came into view from outside the cabin. It then opened the cabin door slowly, freezing air filling the room. The creature looked at Ron, then Hermione and then last at Harry. It stared at Harry for the longest time, slowly approaching him. Harry was frozen with fear and was suddenly filled with dread, his mind flying through memories of Voldemort, the Chamber of Secrets, the fight with the Basilisk, and then his mind went blank, a screaming of a woman the only thing he could hear. Suddenly, the hooded man shot up from his seat and raised his arm, staring down the creature.

“Din.” he whispered and instantly fire erupted out of his hand, engulfing the beast. 

The creature screamed and flew backwards, hitting the outside of the cabin and retreated. The man watched it go and sat back down as the lights flickered back on. He glanced over to the girl and boy standing by their friend, who wasn’t moving. The man than stood up, un-hooded himself reveling blond hair wrapped in a ponytail, and pointed ears with one piercing. The man walked over to them, moving Ron and Hermione out of the way to get to Harry.

“Give him some space.” the man said, glancing back at both of them. He then turned back to Harry and tapped his cheek lightly until he came to. 

Harry sat up slowly and rubbed the back of his head, “Ugh… what happened?” He asked, glancing up at the man and his two friends. 

“You lost consciousness.” the man said as he sat down, crossing his arms. 

“Where’s the creature?” asked Harry, quickly looking around the cabin. 

“He drove it away.” Hermione said, glancing over at the mysterious man. She glanced him over, noting that he looked to be older than any of them, maybe 30 or so. He stood about a foot taller than Harry and the one feature she really took up was his blue piercing eyes, looking at them sent a shiver down her spine. 

“Who are you anyway?” asked Ron, turning towards the man. 

“My name is Link and I’m the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher.” He said, turning his head to look out the window.

The three students looked at each and then back at Link with confused expressions on their faces. 

Noticing this in the reflection, Link looked back at all of them with his own confused expression, “What?” he asked. 

“Well… elves aren’t really known for fighting.” said Hermione 

“I’m sure to get this,” Link said to himself, “I’m not an elf I’m Hylian” he said to them, giving them a look that said “Try calling me an elf again and I’ll kill you”.

“What’s the difference?” Harry asked, curious as to what this new teacher meant by “Hylian”, a term he never heard before. 

“Hylians have better hearing, sight, and Hylian bodies are stronger than average humans.” Link explained, smirking slightly. 

“So if you don’t mind asking um....how did you just shoot fire from your head” Hermione ask curiously staring at Link’s hand  
Link chuckled lightly “Isn’t it obvious? It was magic”

Hermione looked visibly annoyed at the answer “I know it was magic! But you didn’t use a wand that’s what I want to know” 

“Come now I can’t give away all of tricks” He then stood up and walked over to the door, opening it to leave. He stopped and glanced back at the three students. 

“You three have a nice time now, I’m going to make sure no one else on the train was attacked,” He moved to leave, but then stopped again and turned back to the kids, “before I go you never told me your names.” He said.

“I’m Hermione Granger.”

“I’m Ronald Weasly.”

“And I’m Harry Potter.”

“Well it was nice meeting you.” Link said and walked out of the cabin, disappearing down the hall.

As soon as he left, the kids all gathered together and started to discuss their new teacher with curiosity and suspicion. 

“Hermione how do you think he did that fire trick?” asked Ron.

“Not sure I thought magic had to be cast from a wand no matter what!” Hermione exclaimed, impressed and curious as to how a thing like that could happen. 

“No wand…? But isn’t that impossible?” Harry asked, looking at her. 

“Maybe if he’s honed his magic abilities to a certain point but I’m not sure.” Hermione noted.

As the three pondered the events on the train they had lost track of time and didn’t realize they had arrived at Hogwarts Station. The three friends gathered their things and ran off the train. They, along with all the other students but the first years, went into the carriages up to the school. The trip was not long but they looked in awe as Hogwarts castle came into view, the glinting torches and the reflection on the lake made the scene harmonious and peaceful. As they got off the carriage, Harry and his friends started walking towards the castle when he was disrupted by a voice from behind him. 

“Hey Potter! Heard you were attacked by the big bad Dementor on the train! Did you piss yourself, well did you?” 

Harry turned around to be face to face with Draco Malfoy, a sly smirk on his face, and his lackeys who stood behind him, laughing at the insult. 

“Shut it Malfoy.” Harry snapped back, glaring over at the blonde haired boy. Malfoy always found some way to pick on Harry and his friends, and he was starting to get sick of it. 

Suddenly, someone came up from behind Malfoy and spun him around. The man then grabbed Malfoy’s collar and raised him up to eye level, glaring intently on the now shivering boy.

“Now now let’s not use such foul language you never know who might hear you and think hm maybe I should take the liberty of shutting that noisy child up,” the man, who Harry recognized as Link, growled and dropped the boy back to the ground, “Go run off now you little child” 

Malfoy, freaking out, and his friends then scurried/ran immediately to the castle; the faint sentence of “My father will hear about this!” could be heard as they disappeared. Link then began to walk to the castle, passing through the student’s whispers and pointing.

“I think I like him already!” Ron said a grin forming as he watched Link go into the castle. Then there was a low grumble and he looked down at his stomach then back to his friends, “Now come on I’m starving!” he said, running to the castle. 

Hermione turned to Harry with an annoyed look and sighed, frustrated, “You see! All he thinks about is food!” she exclaimed.

Harry shook he head as he and Hermione walked up to the castle, “I’ll never understand the both of you.” He said, chuckling. 

Finally catching up the starving Ron, the three friends walked towards the Great Hall, chatting and joking, when they were interrupted yet again from behind. They turned around and saw Professor McGonagall in front of one of the rooms. 

“Potter! Over here please, I need to speak to you.” yelled McGonagall, waving for him to hurry over. 

He turned to Ron and Hermione, telling them to go on ahead of him. They agreed and continued to the Great Hall, while Harry walked over to McGonagall. She then opened the door to the room she was in front of and walked it. As Harry walked in he noted that not only was Dumbledore in there, but Link as well. They looked like they were discussing something, from what Harry could tell it was about what happened on the train. 

“Interesting, so you can summon fire from your hand without a wand?” Dumbledore questioned a curious twinkle in his eye as he questioned his new professor. 

“Yes but it requires a lot of energy and concentration,’ Link responded, shrugging a bit, “it usual leaves me pretty tired after using it.”

Dumbledore nodded and then turned to Harry, smiling warmly as he and McGonagall walked over to the pair. 

“Harry! So good to see you again my boy!” He said, nodding at him.

“You too sir.” Harry replied, smiling. Dumbledore was always someone Harry could trust, so he felt very comfortable around him. 

“So Mr. Potter,” McGonagall said, bringing Harry’s attention to her, “you were attacked by a dementor on the train correct?” He nodded a yes in response, “Did you provoke it in anyway?” She questioned.

“It did attack but I didn’t provoke it,” he explained, “It just attacked me out of nowhere…”

“Ok that’s all we needed. Thank you Potter, you may join your friends in the hall.” McGonagall said. Harry nodded and turned to leave, “oh and Potter….it’s good to see you back.” She finished, giving him a warm smile. He smiled slightly and nodded, jogging out of the room. 

He closed the door and walked over Great Hall, where he saw Ron and Hermione with all the other Gryffindor’s at the table. Harry sat next to them, they had saved him a seat, and he thanked them for that. 

“What did I miss?” he asked, glancing around the hall. 

“Just the sorting.” Hermione said, 

“But not the food!” Ron exclaimed, once again grinning. 

Hermione rolled her eyes and smiled, “How did I know you where going to say that.” She joked. 

The three friends laughed and only a few minutes later the food was presented. As soon as that happened, Ron grabbed at anything he could get his hands on and stuffed his face as his friends watched on in disgust. 

“How is it possible for you to eat so much at once and not choke?” Hermione exclaimed exasperated, shaking her head.

“An old Weasly secret that you or your brain just couldn’t understand” Ron said, though it was hard to understand with his mouth full of food.

“Ron,” Harry said, putting a hand on his friends shoulder, “you’re my friend but it is kind of disgusting, so please show us some mercy.” The last part said in a joking matter, causing both of them to laugh a bit. 

Just as Ron was about to respond Dumbledore stood up and began to speak.

“Attention!” He yelled, halting all movement with the Great Hall, “I am happy to see new and old faces in students and in staff. I would like you all to greet the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Link.”

The students clapped politely, glancing over at the new professor with the strange pointed ears.

“And taking over for the Study of Magical Creatures will be Rubeus Hagrid.”

This time the clapping was more intense, for not only was Hagrid known by all the students, but mostly everyone because everyone loved the giant keeper.

“One last announcement, Dementors will be on the hunt for Sirius Black and will be searching outside the school. I advise everyone to stay away from them and not to get in their way. Follow those two simple rules and they will no harm you.” Dumbledore explained in a calm tone, finishing his speech and sitting down with all the other professors. 

The students then went back to eating and talking amongst themselves.

“Hagrid is going to be the best teacher, that class should be an easy A” Ron said, grabbing some more food to put on his plate as Hermione watched with a disgusted face. 

Harry agreed but out of the corner of his eye he saw Dumbledore, Snape and Link leaving out a side door of the Great Hall. Curious as to why those three would leave, he turned back to his friends. 

“Come on lets go see what their talking about.” Harry said, getting up from the table. 

Ron was hesitant to leave all the food behind but Harry at that point just dragged him out, Hermione following. The three sneaked down the hall, keeping out of sight as they watched the three professors. Harry saw Dumbledore enter Snape’s office with Link right behind him, a deep frown on his face. Bringing out his invisibility cloak, he tossed it over the three of them and opened the door as quietly as he could, then shutting it. The walked slowly to the side of the office which was dark and watched the three professors stop in the middle of the office. 

“So is our magic similar to your lands magic?” Snape asked, looking over Link with a skeptic eye. 

“Yes, except my lands magic can draw its power from any source, like a crystal or potion.” Link explained. 

“Well I’m not familiar with this type of magical curse, but I do believe I can help nullify the effects of the curse.” Snape said, going over to his desk to grab something from it. He pulled out what looked like to by a charm necklace and walked back over to the two professors. 

“This charm should hold the curse at bay, but it is possible for the power to slip out” Snape explained, handing the charm to Link, “but that’s not very common.”

“How did you stumble upon this or I should ask who cursed you with this?” Dumbledore asked, looking at the charm, then to Link.

He put the charm in over his neck, letting it lay under his chain mail, and looked over at Dumbledore. “Two witches named Twinrova; with their dying breath they cast this curse on me. It’s basically a crystal of evil power impeded in my chest” he explained, tapping his chest where the crystal would be. 

“The only thing that broke the curse was the Master Sword, but it has been sealed by the orders of the Elders in Hyrule.” He continued, his eyes now directed to the other side of the room, memories clouding his mind. 

“Very interesting…”Dumbledore mused, then placed his hand on the younger man’s shoulder, turning Link’s attention to him, “ Well do not fear professor we have experience with curses, hopefully Snape will find a solution.” 

“Hopefully is a vague word for something so complicated…” Snape mumbled under his breath. 

“This conversation does not leave this room, you both can return to your quarters now.” Dumbledore said, turning and heading over to the door. 

Link followed, turning back to Snape to thank him and walked over to the door. He paused for a minute and glanced over to the side of the room, but then opened the door and left. Snape stood alone for a minute before turning the heading to the other side of the room and shut the door to his quarters to think.

The trio quickly, but quietly, left the room and scurried down the hall until they were far enough away and took of the cloak, Harry hiding it within his robes. 

“Wow the professor seems to have a very powerful curse on him! Hell, even Snape can’t seem heal it.” Ron said in an almost scared tone, wondering how this new professor could have had that done to him. 

“It’s very unusual, but I think its best if we don’t get involved.” Hermione said, “I would like to have at least one normal school year.” She finished, sighing slightly but smiling a bit. 

The three friends walked back to the Gryffindor common room and for some reason Ron was the only one who knew the password. Once they entered, the three friends said their goodnights to one another. Hermione went to the girl’s dorm, Ron and Harry to the boy’s, where they overheard student’s talking about the new teacher.

“He seems very odd; he didn’t talk to any of the other teachers during dinner. And did you see, he, Dumbledore and Snape left out the side exit. I wonder what they were up to!” said one student. 

“I heard he grabbed Malfoy by his shirt collar and scared the shit out of him” said another student, snickering after the statement. 

Harry and Ron glanced at one another and ignored the other students. They both went over to their beds to sleep, the days events still on their minds.


	2. A Warning

The first week went uneventful. Students slowly came back into the customs of Hogwarts, with getting their new schedules, meeting the teachers, and getting comfortable back into the lifestyle. Harry, Hermione and Ron walked into their first class of the day Divination, in high spirits. Those were soon crushed as they soon found out that both the class and teacher were not only pointless, but crazy as well. Hermione kept her head in a book, cursing the class underneath her breathe, while Ron and Harry watched the teacher in confusion as she pranced around the room. 

“Do you feel it?!” screamed Trelawney, turning to all the students and walking around to them, “Do you feel the energy in the ball!?” she screamed yet again, this time in some random students faces, leaving them confused and slightly horrified. 

She raced over to Ron, who yelped in surprised, and started harass…I mean, asking him the same thing. 

“Do you feel the energy?! Can you see anything?! What do you see! What do you see!” screamed Trelawney, throwing question upon question at the red head. 

“I..I..I see my reflection…?” Ron stuttered, looking up at the loony teacher with a fake smile. It looked more pained than anything else from what Harry could see. 

“Do not fear, one day you will all be able to see the past! And the future!” Trelawney said still jumping from student to student, scaring each and every one. 

Hermione turned to Harry, a look of disgust clearly on her face. 

“This class is a complete joke! She teaches nothing and we learn nothing” Hermione whispered, glaring over at the teacher, who was still freaking out at some random students. 

Harry nodded in agreement, “As long as I pass, I don’t care. But I do have to agree with you.” He whispered back, patting Ron on the back who was still in shock from the teacher screaming at him. 

Suddenly the door to the class opened, causing all the students and even the professor to turn their heads in that direction. Link walked in, and Hermione was the first to notice that he had a sword on his right hip! His robe still covered his body, but from what she could see, he was wearing a green tunic underneath it with a white shirt and some chain mail underneath that. It was an odd outfit to see, but at least underneath the tunic he was wearing pants! 

“You!! Leave now I will not have you in here!” Trelawney yelled, pointing dramatically at Link who gave her a bored stare as he glanced around the room. “You smell of evil! You are the tool evil!

He continued to ignore her until his eyes set on who he was looking for, Harry. 

“Potter! Come with me now.” Link commanded, ignoring Trelawney as he motioned for Harry to follow him. 

“Ye-Ye Yes professor.” Harry said, slowly getting up and made his way over to Link. Link turned and walked out of the room, Harry following behind. He cast a worried glance back to Ron and Hermione, and closed the door behind him. 

Link leads Harry down the flight of steps, silent the whole way and walked into an unused classroom. They both walked in and Link turns, shutting the heavy wooden door.

“Why do you need me professor?” Harry asked; worried that maybe Link knew that the three of them listened in the conversation he had with Dumbledore and Snape. But how could he know they were there when they had the cloak on? 

“Don’t play dumb,” Link said, leaning up against the door and crossing his arms, his full focus on Harry, “I know you and your friends were listening that night in Snape’s office. Now, tell me what you heard and no lies.” He demanded annoyance clearly the main tone in his voice. 

Harry froze, but tried to cover it, laughing nervously, “What do you mean? My friends and I were in the hall eating dinner.” Harry responded, trying not to look Link in the eye. 

Link stared at him for a moment, his glare turning darker as he sighed and came off the wall, reaching for his right hip and swiftly pulling out his sword, pointing it at Harry. Harry froze, his eyes widening, going from the sword to Link very slowly. 

“I’ve done many things with this sword,” he said, his voice now more threatening than before, scaring Harry, “Now… let’s try this again and this time no lies Potter.” 

Harry stood silent for a moment, both trying to keep himself calm and trying to show fear towards the professor. It wasn’t working very well and finally he took a deep breath and exhaled, looking Link in the eye and decided that lying would get him nowhere. 

“We… heard basically everything, the curse, the charm, something about a sword and that’s it, I swear.” Harry confessed, trying to keep his tone as calm as he could. 

Link continued to stare at him until he lowered his sword, sheathing it back into his scabbard, and nodded, taking Harry’s answer. 

“Don’t tell anyone what you heard,” He demanded, “Don’t repeat anything you heard and please take my advice,” he paused, turning away from Harry and opening the door, “Don’t get evolved in my affairs. Trust me it won’t turn out good. Now go back to class.” With that he left the room and walked down the hall, soon too far for Harry to see. 

Harry stood there for a moment, running the situation through his head and walked out of the room, back up the stairs to his classroom. To his surprise when he arrived back, the class had already ended and Ron and Hermione had stayed around waiting for him. As soon as they saw him, both went over to Harry and all three walked down the stairs to their next class. 

“So what did the professor want?” Hermione asked after they filled Harry in on what he missed. 

“Well,” he paused, that glare flashing into his mind, “He knows we know about the curse and he also told me not to get involved. That it would be in my best interest not too.” Harry explained, shaking his head to get the image out of his mind. 

“How could he have known we were there, we had your cloak of invisibility!” Ron exclaimed, shocked. 

“I don’t know but all I know is I’m taking the professors advice.” Harry said, looking at both of his friends. They continued to walk until Harry asked what classed they had next. Hermione looked at their schedule and noted that they had Care of Magical Creatures, which was Hagrid’s class. 

“Sweet this class with Hagrid should be awesome!” Ron cheered, actually excited for a class for a change! 

Hermione smiled a bit at that, finally something other than food on the boys mind! 

“Let’s get going we only have a few minutes before class starts.” She said, walking out towards the one of the many exits to the castle. 

The three friends continued down the hallway and got to the court yard, following it out to the exit near the Forbidden Forest. 

Meanwhile, Link was walking to his classroom, when Hagrid stopped him. 

“Professor may have a minute of your time?” He asked, towering over the new professor. 

Link blinked a bit, surprised slightly by his height but didn’t show it, “Yes you may, what is it that you need?” Link asked. He was curious as to what Hagrid needed from him since they did not know one another very well. 

“Well, in this land there are a lot of magical creatures that breathe fire but are very dangerous and are usual hard to capture. I was just wondering if in your country if you had anything safer?” Hagrid asked, hoping in the back of his mind that the answer would be a yes from the professor. 

“Yes and no, in my country they are called Dongo Dongos. At first they are harmless but after a week or two they get very aggressive.” Link explained, picturing the creatures in his mind, definitely not the best creatures in the world. 

“Would it be possible for some to be shipped up here?” Hagrid asked, almost kiddy having a foreign creature to show his students. 

Link pondered this for a moment, but shrugged it off. What was the worst that can happen? 

“I’ll have to pull a few strings but yes, the only problem would be time could be a week or two months.” Link explained.

“Thank you professor, I appreciate!” said Hagrid, quickly shaking Link’s hand and walked off down the hallway, a little skip in his step as he went. 

Link shook his hand, and sighed, such strange people worked here. He started walking back to his classroom, but stopped when he felt something that was out of place. He walked back out and stared down the hallway Hagrid was in just moments ago, the presence he sensed was coming from that general direction. He closed his classroom door and went down the hall and quickly went outside into the forest to investigate the uneasy presence. It was one he was far too familiar with. 

‘If I’m right about this….then teaching is going to be the least of my concerns.’

~~~Down at the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest~~~ 

“Where’s Hagrid? He should have been here by now…” Hermione said, glancing around the space the students all stood, worried and slightly annoyed. 

“Don’t be so harsh on him, he probably forgot he had a class to teach!” Ron joked, causing Harry to chuckle and for Hermione to elbow Ron in the gut. 

Exactly at that time, Hagrid appeared, walking down the trail towards his students. 

“Ok class sorry I was late! I hade some business to do, but now that I’m here, we will be learning about the many magical creatures in the forest,” Hagrid walked in front of the class, the forest behind him, “ Now I know the forest is forbidden but we have special permission. Now to open your books you must first pet its side to ease it so it doesn’t attack you.” Hagrid explained, grinning at the last part as the students looked at the books with a bit of nervousness. 

The students all opened their books; well except for Neville, who had a bit of a problem at first but finally was able to open it with little injuries as possible. Hagrid lead the class into the forest where he then told them to split into groups and find either magical creatures or magical plants.

“So this plant is magical, how is that even possible?” Ron asked as he stared at one of the plants they had found, totally confused. 

“The plant itself isn’t magical, but when grinded down the powder is considered magical.” Hermione noted, looking down into her book to take some notes on the plant. 

Harry and Ron nodded and also took notes on the plant. During this whole project, Harry felt like something was watching them. But every time he turned around, there was nothing there. 

“You alright Harry?” Ron asked, looking up from his notes to his friend. 

“Yeah, it just feels… like we’re being watched.” Harry said, slowly standing up and staring into the darkness of the forest. 

There was a long silence, the faint chatter of the other students the only other notable noise. Until from the forest came a long, dark howl.

“What was that?!” Ron screamed, backing up from the planet, scared. 

“I have no idea, but I didn’t sound friendly.” Hermione whispered, backing up next to Ron, keeping her eyes on the forest. 

Then from the forest Harry spotted something. On top of a small hill something slowly prowled its way out. Moving from darkness of the forest a black wolf with piercing yellow eyes revealed itself. Harry quickly pulled out his wand, ready to defend himself against the creature. Hermione and Ron also pulled out there wands, prepared. Hagrid and few other students came running up behind them, coming to investigate the sound.

“Harry, Hermione, Ron what are you doing with your wands out?” Hagrid asked in a stern tone, not being able to see the wolf in front of Harry.

“It’s a wolf Hagrid! But it’s bigger than any other wolf… and its eyes...” Hermione trailed off, surprised that the wolf charged down the hill towards the trio.

“STUPIFY!” Harry yelled, directing the spell towards the wolf which hit it in the chest. The wolf immediately shook it off and made a terrible blood curtailing howl. Harry backed up slightly, realizing that he had just pissed off a very threating looking wolf. 

“How is that possible…?” Harry said in shock, staring at the wolf in horror.

“Harry we need to go now!” Hermione screamed, starting to back up away from the wolf. 

She and Ron ran towards Hagrid and the other students, but Harry didn’t move. It was almost like he was frozen for looking right into the wolf’s eyes, the darkness and death from the creature paralyzing him in fear. 

“Come on Harry get over here!” Hagrid yelled, keeping all the other students behind him. 

“Harry what are doing? Get over here!” Hermione screamed in panic, horrified that her best friend wouldn’t move. 

The students yelled for Harry but to no avail, they watched as the wolf made another charge down the hill. It leaped into the air for the fatal strike on Harry.

“Potter! Down!” a voiced yelled from behind the class. Harry released from his trance dropped to the ground. 

An arrow flew over his head and into the wolf’s chest. The wolf yelped in pain and fell to the ground in front of Harry. Hagrid and the students looked on in awe and confusion.

Everyone turned to see Link walking towards them with a bow in his hand. Hagrid franticly made his way over “Professor! Professor! Thank goodness thy came to help but you nearly hit the students with that bloody thing!” point at the bow in question.

Link merely kept walking calmly towards the wolf “I knew what I was doing “He said dryly. Link went up Harry and knelt down to look at him at eye level.

He gave Harry a small smile and patted his shoulders “Well it’s good to know you can take orders effectively” Link then helped Harry to his feet “Are you feeling ok? You were pretty frozen there for a moment.” When he still didn’t respond Link’s smile turned into a low frown.

Hermione, along with the rest of the class, followed Hagrid and she went next to Harry. 

“Harry can you hear me? What were you thinking?” Hermione asked; worry clearly in her voice for her best friend. 

Harry blinked a few times and looked from Link and then to Hermione, confused, “Uh… What happened?” He asked, slowly regaining some focus. 

“You wouldn’t move man, even when the wolf charged at you and we screamed for ya too!” Ron explained, coming up next to Hermione, concerned. 

“Where is the wolf? Is everyone ok?” Harry asked, looking around. 

“We’re fine and the wolf is….” Hermione said pointing over towards Link who was standing over the wolf, pulling the arrow out of its back.

Link examined the arrow and put it away, turning towards Hagrid and the students, “You alright Potter? You made a lot of people worry” Link asked. 

“Yes professor thank for…” Harry started to say but was suddenly cut off by a strange sound. 

It came as a low chuckle from behind Link and he even turned around and looked down at the source. 

“You… it’s…….it’s you, you’re the one he sent me to find…” the dark voice trailed, clearly coming from the wolf. Its voice was almost echo like, but it gave off such a strange vibe that it gave Harry shivers. 

“Who are you talking about beast!” Hagrid shouted, motioning his students to back away, keeping them from danger. 

“Hero of Time… I’ve finally found you heheh… who would guess you would be a teacher…?” the wolf snickered as it lay in a puddle of its own blood. 

“Lord Ganon is coming back you pathetic worm… he will kill you and burn this land… and claim the power he rightfully deserves… the earth will be nothing but ash and flames and you will dead at his feet you-” the wolf rambled on until suddenly it was silenced. Link had slowly pulled out his sword, and swiftly impaled the creature.

“Be silent forever.” Link whisper hoarsely as the wolf burst into flames, the only evidence left behind being the pool of blood. 

The whole class stayed silent as they watched their new professor kill the beast so handily, looking at him with fear and confusion. Just who was this man?

Hagrid coughed into his hand and turned to his class, getting their attention, “Alright class, start walking back to the castle now…class is over for the day.” 

The class silently agreed and stared the hike back to the castle, Hagrid guarding in front of the pack and Link stayed in the back, glancing back to the forest every now and then. 

“What do you think all that was about?” Ron whispered to Harry, “The wolf talked to the professor as if he knew him!”

“It’s to strange not to pay attention to,” Hermione added, joining the secret conversation, “but what I really don’t understand is why Harry’s spell hit the wolf dead on and it was still able to attack…almost like it didn’t feel it at all” 

“Who’s Ganon that’s my question,” Harry whispered, glancing back towards the professor, “The wolf said he was coming back, and would claim his rightful power. It sounded like the professor fought him before or had some kind of fight with him.” 

Hermione also glanced back to Link, who was now looking back at the forest, “If they have fought before that would explain why Link was chosen to be the DADA teacher.” She said, quickly looking away as Link turned from the forest. 

The class finally came up from the trail and gathered in the castle’s plaza, most of the students whispering about the events of the class. 

“Alright class,” Hagrid said, silencing everyone, “Unfortunately we will be staying out of the forest for awhile till we get this situation under control. But since we got back early you may all have the period free.” This was responded with many thanks towards Hagrid’s and high fives between the students. 

Link slowly walked over to Hagrid, glancing at the forest one last time and pulled him off to the side of the plaza, speaking in quite voice.

“I’ll tell Dumbledore what happened,” Link explained, looking up at the giant, “And do me a favor try to forget what you heard certain things I don’t like talking about.”

Hagrid stared down at him for a while, but finally nodded and bid his farewell to the professor, walking back towards his hut. Link sighed and walked back to his office, a frown forming on his face. Things were starting to get messy and it was basically his fault. 

Harry, Hermione and Ron entered the Great Hall for lunch, trying to get past the events of the morning. Clearly Ron had, because once again he was back to stuffing his face, much to his friends displeasure. 

“Well Ron you still seem to never surprise me,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes, “You’re eating like a man eating beast! It’s not like you haven’t eaten in weeks…” 

“Please don’t mention beasts, I’m still kind of in shock” Harry said, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl in front of him. Just thinking about that wolf freaked Harry out. 

“Oh, sorry.” Hermione apologized, looking at Harry for a moment before returning to her book. 

Harry, about to take a bit of his apple, suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Link, looking down at him with a bit of a concerned look on his face.

“Potter, you alright?” He asked, taking his hand of his shoulder, returning it to his side. 

“Yes thanks for saving me…..again.” Harry said, grateful, yet embarrassed over the fact that his teacher kept rescuing him. 

Link waved it off and gave him a small smirk, “I am here to teach and defend my students, no need to thank me.” He said. 

“Uh… professor may I ask a question?” asked Hermione, slightly nervous, the image of him stabbing that wolf coming to her mind. 

“Yes, what is Ms. Granger?” Link said, turning his attention turned to the brunette. 

“Who is Ganon? It just worries us, what we heard from the wolf… it’s just like it knew who you were.” Hermione said; giving her teacher the bravest face she could muster up. All three of them were worried for their professor, from what the wolf had said something bad was bound to happen.

Link sighed and glanced at all three students, “Please for your sake just leave what happened today at that. These things are complicated and well they don’t have a pretty story to go along with them. Don’t pry any further you may not like what you find.” He said, that same commanding tone coming through. He would not allow his students to be hurt because of him.

“Now,” He continued,” you three better get ready for your next class, it starts soon.”

They looked down at their schedules and saw they had DADA next. All three looked back up only to see that their professor had disappeared into thin are.

“Should we be worried that he can just vanish into thin air…?” Ron said nervously, chuckling a bit. 

The three friend s laughed, trying to get the worry out of their minds, and finished their lunches. They then began the walk to their DADA classroom, excited to see what their professor was capable of teaching them. If he was as good at fighting as he was teaching, this class was going to be something else!


	3. DADA with Professor Link

The golden trio walked down the hall towards their next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts. Previously, this class had been no good, but with Link as the new professor, they were hoping that would change

“So DADA with Professor Link this should be interesting!” Ron said, stretching his hands above his head, this day felt like it was going on forever!

“I have a feeling this class is going to better then early years, Link actual seems to have experience in fighting” Harry said excitedly, hoping learn something from this class for once. 

“Yes but with what looks like a sword and a bow. We’ve only seen him use magic once.” Hermione mumbled to herself, still stumped as to why the professor didn’t have a wand. 

The three finally made it to the room and opened the door, seeing almost all the class had shown up already. They took their seats in the back and Harry noticed Link seating up in the front of the room at his desk. Taking a moment, Harry glanced around the room and saw that it was pretty bland, some books lay about and the only really notable thing was a shield that sat in the front of the room. Before Harry could get a good look at it, Link stood up from his chair and stood in front of the class, looking over his class. 

“Defense Against the Dark Arts is by far the most valuable class you will have in this school. For if you don’t know how to fight back, how will you defend yourself when the situation arises where you are forced to? This is why I’m here. To teach you to defend yourself, to teach you how to fight back. Some people think the world is full of peace and tranquility,” Link paused and chuckled slightly, looking back at his class, “They are dead wrong. Evil is everywhere and it will always be a constant threat. Some of you are probably thinking ‘I’ll never need to fight’ or ‘nothing can kill me!’ Well I thought that to at one point” Link explained, and then he started to take off his rob, reveling that green tunic that Hermione had noticed before earlier in the day. He then took off the top of the tunic, the chain mail and then his under shirt. He then turned around showing the class his bare back.

The whole class gasped in disbelief as to what they were seeing. Link’s entire back was littered with scares and burn marks, some looking more painful than others. Hermione had to keep herself from gasping again as Link turned back around to show his chest. On it was a large, ragged scar from his left shoulder to his right hip. It looked like someone had literally taken a sword and sliced him across the chest. 

“These scars and burns are a testament to my life and what I had to do to save the ones I loved and my own life.” He explained, crouching down and picking up the clothing on the floor. He tugged his shirt over his head as he continued. 

“I show you these because I thought nothing could hurt me,” He paused as he put his chain mail back on, then the upper half of his tunic, “And when I underestimated my opponent they left their mark on me, and those marks are a constant reminder.” He said, his voice seeming distant as he put the black robe he always wore back on. 

“Now,” He ordered, bring his attention back to the class, “If you could all get up and push the desks to the side of the room we can start class.” 

The students did as he said, pushing the desks and chairs off to the side. While they were doing that, Link brought a cabinet that was in one of the side closest out, but it was shaking and screeching, making it a concern to the class. 

“What is that?” Neville asked as he and the rest of the class walked over to their professor, curious. 

Link turned back to the class and stepped to the side, showing the cabinet to the students, “it’s called a boggart it’s a creature that takes the shape of your worst nightmare.” He explained, gesturing to the shaking object. “Dumbledore had it sent to me, what better way to learn to fight then first conquering your on fears.”

The students stood and watched the cabinet rock back and forth, slightly horrified as to what could be in it. Link clapped his hands and brought the attention back to him, some students looking a bit paler then before. 

“Now form a straight line!” Link ordered, watching the students as they scrambled not to end up being first. 

To his luck, Ron ended up in the front of the line. He was trembling because he knew exactly what was going to come out of that thing and he hated it so much. 

“What do I do when it comes out…?” He asked, looking over at Link while trying to keep himself from visibly shaking. 

Link looked the kid over and gave him a reassuring smile, “You can use any spell you know. I just want you to fight it and push the fear back in the cabinet,” He explained, “If you don’t fight I’ll open the cabinet door which will suck the creature back into the cabinet.” 

Ron nodded, “A-alright…” He said, pulling out his wand, readying himself. 

Link nodded and walked over to the front of the cabinet and unlocked the door slowly. He backed out of the way just in time, because from the door came out a monstrous sized spider, it’s eye a sickly yellow and it’s full focus on Ron. 

Ron fought back the trembling and calmed himself. He lifted up his wand and swiftly flicked it towards the spider, “STUPIFY!” Ron yelled, his spell hitting the spider back and sent it a few feet back. “STUPIFY!” he yelled again, this time sending the spider flying back into the cabinet from where it came. 

Link closed the door and turned back to Ron, nodding at him, “Very good Mr. Wesley.” He complimented, “Next up please!”

Ron grinned and jogged his way to the side of the room, leaning on one of the desks to watch all the other students go through the exercise. Most of the students that followed had a mentality that really didn’t allow them to attack their fears, causing Link to have to come in and save them every now and then. Most of the fears were silly things, parents yelling at them, in Neville’s case it was Professor Snape which got a good chuckle out of Link. After him, Harry stood at the front of the line, a bit nervous as to what could come out of the cabinet. 

“Are you ready Potter?” Link asked. 

Harry nodded and Link then opened the door, once again backing out of the way. The air in the room seemed to drop several degrees as a skeleton like hand slowly came out of the cabinet. The full body of the Dementor revealed itself and looked down upon Harry. He backed up slightly, gaping up at the Dementor. He had no idea what spell to use to defend him against this thing! He was too shocked to even think of any spell to use, he didn’t know what to do. 

Link watched as Harry just stood there, gaping at the monster, “Fight it Potter!” he screamed, watching the boy not even flinch at his command. He balled up his fist and glared at the boy, trying to get some reaction out of him, “Fight back or it will kill you!”

Harry saw his professor saying something to him, but couldn’t hear what. All he could hear was that women’s scream yet again, ringing through his mind. The dementor came closer to Harry, prepared to attack, when suddenly was sucked back into the cabinet to Harry’s surprise. He snapped out of his trance and saw the professor had locked the door back up and was giving Harry a disapproving gaze. 

“Come one Potter, I expected better.” Link said, sounding disappointed. He shook his head and walked past Harry to address the rest of the class. 

“Alright, return the desks back to normal and we will go over…” He instructed until he was cut off when the doors on the cabinet slammed open. Link quickly turned around and motioned for Harry and the rest of the class to get behind him. As they did, he swiftly pulled out his sword and went into a defensive pose, glaring at the cabinet in question.   
Out of the cabinet, a thick black smoke cloud appeared and slowly it started to take the form of something, almost like a human.

“Well look at what we have here,” the cloud, taking the form of a man who seemed to growing closer to looking like Link with every second except for its darker appearance and blood red eyes. It’s voice sent chills down the students spines, “It is you Link…” If the cloud gave the form more detailed features, the students would see the man grinning for ear to ear, a crazed look in his eyes. 

“How cute…” it chuckled, staring down at the blonde professor, “You’re a pretty little teacher now hehehehe I can’t help but laugh Link, seeing you again reminds me of our time in the Water temple.” The voice said in a low mocking tone.

Hermione moved up next to Harry, who was right behind Link, and said in a frightened tone, “Professor who is this? What does he mean?” 

The cloud, over hearing this, let out another laugh, than bowed slightly, looking back up to the class. “Oh! How rude of me, I should introduce myself shouldn’t I?” he said, in a sudden loud voice frightening Hermione, “My name is Dark Link! I was created by my master Ganondorf. I’m everything Link isn’t. I am his hate, his evil and his nightmare! Hehehee Oh Link how come you haven’t told them about me yet?” Dark Link said causally strolling over to the opposite side of the room. Sitting on top of a desk and crossing his legs.  
Dark Link smiled from ear “Seeing you again Link just fills my heart with rainbows hehehe it brings me back to our small time together! Don’t you remind? That’s where I gave you that pretty little scare on your chest.” Dark mockingly tapped his chest where the scar would be on Link  
Link pulled out his sword “Shut up! You’re not here! It’s just a trick!” he yelled losing his cool demeanor. Hermione noticed this as the professor was visibly shacking. Something she thought would never happen to him.   
“Hehehe oooohhhh reaallly? “ Dark leaped off the desk and stood a few feet away from Link “Would a trick know about you’re precious Malon?”   
Link nearly dropped his sword at the sound of his wife’s name. He couldn’t believe it….it really was…  
Dark Link turned to a chalk board that was placed off to the side and put a finger on it “what about your son Dahpne? Would a trick know that too hehhehehe” Dark began to trail his finger down the board making an loud scretching noise “Hehehe I know how about when Lord Ganondorf revives me”   
Dark Link pulled out his own sword and swiped it quickly across the board making an even more horrifying noise. “I give your son a scare to match like daddies!”   
The threat had gone too far. Link broke himself from his fear richen trance and glared coldly at Dark. His cold blue eyes staring daggers at the evil copy. Link slammed his sword down impaling it into the wooden floor, the bladed end pointing at Dark Link.   
“That’s enough!” Link yelled taking booth his fists slamming them together. As he was doing this the students could see bits of fire streaming from the ends of his hands.   
Link raised one of his fisted hands into the air, it now being completely engulfed in flames. He brought his fist down slamming the hilt of his sword. “Din’s inferno!” Fire engulfed the sword and then shot out of the bladed side that pointed at Dark Link.   
Fire shot across the floor with resounding speed. Dark Link had no time to dodge instead he was engulfed in flames. The dark creature screeched horribly before being sucked back into the cabinet. Link looked over to see who had opened it. It was Harry and Ron who had opened it and were holding it close.   
Link was brought to the floor rather quickly panting heavily while gripping his sword trying to keep himself up. Hermione and some students came to his aid quickly while others still stood there place trying to piece together what happened.   
Hermione and the others helped Professor Link to stand “Sir are you going to be ok? Do you need to sit?”   
Link silently nodded. The students helped there professor to his desk. During this Harry, Ron and some other male students helped move the cabinet to the other side of the room. The students then began to return to their seats not totally sure as what to do. Link looked like a shadow of his former self. The class had only been about 20 or so minutes in. When they started Link was a proud, tough warrior but now he seemed like a defeated dog that had just been kicked over and over again.   
Before anyone could say anything Link finally broke the awkward silence. “I’m sorry….I’m sorry you all had to see that…I….I lost my control” Link adjusted his stance slowly standing up, the fatigue from his spell and the cold boned fear he felt forced him to stumble a little. Some students jumped from their seats to help but he waved at them.   
When Link finally got himself up he breathed a deep breath “This is what I was talking about” he said slowly walking to the front of his desk and closer to his students “You must be prepared at all times for everything and anything. I will be ending class early.” Link stated coldly. “Next class we will talk about what happened today.” He said before returning to his seat running his hand through his hair.   
As the other students filed out the golden trio remained. Link glared at all three. He knew immediately what was about to…….  
“Professor please forgive me but this can’t be ignored any further! Who was that?! Who’s Ganondorf and why does the mention of him send you into such a fearful state!”   
Link slowly rose from his chair, quickly overcoming the teenage girl’s height. Even Harry and Ron were forced to look up at the tall professor. Link looked down at the brown haired girl and gave her a glare, trying to scare her off, but was somewhat surprised when the young lady stood her ground. He looked up at the Harry and Ron who were also standing firm with their friend. Sighing he ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. He motioned for the three to follow him up the stairs to where his office was. He stopped at the door and took a picture off from the wall.  
He handed it to the three teenagers. Hermione taking it into her hands looked at it. Seeing a red headed women along with a horse and a small blonde headed boy. “That is my wife and son” Link said quietly.  
The three looked up at him. Links rob seemed to block his mouth slightly “I love them with all my heart and I would do anything to protect them, that’s why I lost control today.”  
Harry stared at his professor stepping forward slightly “And that creature…it’s you isnt it?”  
Hermione and Ron both looked at Harry then Link. Link seemed to have a bored emotionless expression in his eyes. “Yes it is an exact copy of me….Except our personalities are….. extremly different.”  
Hermione was about to interject when Link suddenly grabbed the photo from her and put it back on the wall. He turned back to the three students “I believe your next class is about to start.”  
The golden trio for once took the hint and scurried quickly out of the class room. They nearly ran down the hall way with the recent event replaying in their heads over and over again.   
“This is way too weird to ignore now,” Hermione stated, her voice full of worry, “twice this Ganon has been mentioned!” she said panting from the most physical activity she had done in a while.   
Harry nodded, walking up another flight of stairs before they could change course, “I feel bad at this point, he’s been through a lot clearly and now it’s happening all over again. I would almost say this may be out of our league” Harry seemed to smirk a little at the end “but when have we ever back down?”  
Hermione and Ron laughed lightly at the comment. It wasn’t wrong the three students had been through a lot together.   
“How do you think Dumbledore will handle this?” Ron asked as they walked down another hall.   
As soon as the words came out of his mouth, down the hall Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall appeared and walked by the trio. They looked back and noticed that the two professors seemed to be heading the same direction they had been coming from. Hermione noted they were probably going to the DADA room.  
“Wicked, word gets out pretty fast!” Ron exclaimed, looking over to Hermione and Harry, who both nodded. 

“Well Dumbledore is getting involved now, so I guess we can leave it to him.” Hermione said, shrugging it off a bit, though she felt that more research was needed. Ron thought nothing of it but Harry seemed reluctant to let the past events ago. The trio headed back to their common room, ready to take a break from the day events. 

Dumbledore and McGondall walked down the hall and entered the classroom, where Link was sitting down, and leaning back in his chair. Noticing the visitors, he stood up and walked over to the professors. 

Dumbledore, while not frowning, had a stern look on his face, “Professor, it is best that you explain to me and professor McGondall your full situation. I don’t want anything kept out, as headmaster of this school I need to know of all threats.” He said in a commanding tone, gazing up slightly to look at Link.   
Link stayed silent for a moment, matching the headmaster’s gaze, until he finally nodded slightly, “As you wish.” He responded.   
Link began his tall to the two professors. Starting from his home with the Great Deku tree. To the changes of time he experienced in his journey. He went into great detail the pain he went through from fighting Dark Link. How the crazed creature left its mark on him. No detail was left out not even his journey to Termina could be left alone. The hours began to mesh together as the stories of the hylian warrior were sewed together, others harder than other. At the end of his tale, Link detailed the day’s events.   
“Ganondorf is his name correct?” Link nodded “With his minions re-appearing do you think he is on the rise again?” McGonagall asked once Link finished up his story.   
Link stayed silent for a moment, his gaze to the floor, “Unfortunately that is the only explanation that would make sense. Ganondorf is sealed for sure but these recent events have brought me to believe he is growing stronger.” He explained, gazing back up to the witch and wizard. 

Dumbledore nodded, standing up and smiling at him, “Well professor I trust you know what you’re doing and I’ll leave it at that. I’ll see in the hall for dinner tonight” he said, turning and leaving the class room.   
McGonagall stood up in shock at the lax words the headmaster had used “Dumbledore!”  
The head master of Hogwarts turned around to look at the two professors. “Why whatever is the concern professor McGonagall?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.  
McGonagall nearly ran over the headmaster at the pace she approached him “This man we barely know has just described the most outrageous story I have ever heard and you are going to take it as fact?!”  
Dumbledore merely stroked his beard calmly looking at his rebellious professor “For one I do believe our young warrior” he said quickly “ Secondly I have all the confidence in Link that he will be able to stop any threat that may come here, which he has shown on two separate occasions.” The head master placed a hand on McGonagall “I assure you Link can be trusted”  
Both Dumbledore and McGonagall looked towards Link. He was standing motionless in the room. His eyes were cold like steel. There was no emotion on his face. His response was a shallow nod. Dumbledore repeated the motion to him. “McGonagall I believe we have other matters to attend to.” Dumbledore said leaving the room. McGonagall did the same leaving the room quickly.  
Link sat in silence for a while after they left, thinking about what had happened. He stood up in frustration and walked over to the window, watching the last bits of the sun setting behind the mountains and trees that surround Hogwarts. He thought of his wife and son. Link dropped to his knees and prayed for their safety as the last bit of light departed from the land.  
When he was finished he looked upon the great lake before him “Why can’t I just have peace in my life…?” He whispered to himself, seeing the darkness take over the sky. He then turned from the window and went back to his desk, preparing the lessons he would teach the next day.   
The next 2 months went without incident, which was pretty odd, even for Hogwarts. There was something usually going on but this year the school year felt almost…normal. Well other than Professor Link killing a few unknown creatures. The thoughts of students seemed to forget those events as none of them really effected them. The main worry over the student body wasn’t a giant snake or an evil teacher, but those midterms that every kid always dreaded. They were only a week away and many of the students were studying non-stop, going over the notes (or using their friends notes) to remember what they had learned during the first half of the year. Harry, Hermione, and Ron, along with some most 3rd year Gryffindor’s, were found in their last DADA class before the midterm. 

Link turned back to his class, who were all preparing to leave, and coughed to get their attention, “Ok now before I end class today, I have an announcement. There will be a midterm…” This was preceded with groans from all the students, causing him to roll his eyes. 

“Now listen up, complaining won’t get you anywhere. The midterm will be….” Link allowed a small grin to form, he then took his sword and quickly sliced the floor making a mark on it “You will have to force me behind this mark. You may use any spell you like.” He said with slight chuckle “However if you fail I will most likely put you down on the ground.”  
The class began filed out of the room and Ron, Hermione, and Harry walked down the hall, discussing their plans for studying, or lack thereof.   
“Ok so how do we exactly force the professor back? I mean he wear’s all that armor so he’s got to weigh a ton?” Ron said, shocking his two friends into disbelief. Ron was actually trying to be prepared?!?!

“Wow Ronald I’m proud of you! Thinking about the class before your stomach!” Hermione joked, grinning slightly with Harry laughing at the comment. 

“Who are you and what have you done with Ron?” Harry said, smirking as Ron gave a frustrated ‘huff’, causing his two friends to laugh. 

“Oh ha-ha-ha, I can be just as responsible as any of you! So let’s hear it! Come one you two must have some sort of idea?!?!” Ron replied, rolling his eyes at his friends, but smiling at the end at them to know he was kidding. 

After many days of keeping their heads in the books, endless nights of no sleep, and memorizing as much as they could, the DADA midterm finally came up. All the students looked down at the mark Professor Link had left days ago. It was a sharp cut across the floor. He stood at it like a menacing statue. His arms crossed over his chest, his sword strapped at his right hip and his shield behind him. The class began to file into the classroom. When everyone was there Link called out a random name.   
The first so happen to be Draco Malfoy. Link stood unguarded when the young teenager began his attack. Malfoy shot a stupiefy spell at Link, who had reacted quickly and dodged the attack. Link then punched his wand in the air away from the blonde headed boy.  
Malfoy stared helplessly at Link expecting some sort of back lash or punishment from the professor. However Link simply placed a hand on the boys shoulder. “Nicely done you knew the correct spell and had great form….truly if you had hit me it would have been done.” Link said while walking him to the door “But be prepared with a second and third spell to counter attack.” He said with a soft smile “You have a lot of potential Draco please use it for good ok?”  
The kind words were a shock to Draco Malfoy. At the beginning of the year this professor had completely embarrassed him! Now he was here giving him advice!?!? He wanted to spit at the Hylian but found in himself to understand what he was saying. Looking up Link, Draco nodded and grabbed his belongings before leave.   
Link then turned to his class clapping both hands together “Ok who’s next!?!?”   
All of the students seemed to cowry in fear as their professor stood above the line he had drawn. Link gazed across the room and began calling out random names. The students that were chosen tried and many failed to push the professor back. As each student left ashamed, Link would walk them out speaking some sort of words of wisdom.  
“Harry Potter!” Link yelled  
Harry felt his whole body tense up. He got up from his desk and stood in front of Link. Harry looked over Link quickly. He only had a sword which Link had been using to deflect many attacks. Attacking directly would be foolish Harry thought.   
That’s when Harry had an idea. He took out his wound and performed his spell. “Stupifey!” the wand shot out a whit bolt that was aimed at Link’s feet. Link was forced to leap back. Harry smirked slightly at his success. Harry repeated the same attack a few more times. The scene was astonishing to all the students still there. So far no one had pushed Link back this far. Some students even stared to cheer at Harry’s success. Harry had just gotten Link to the line on the floor, when without warning Link charged Harry. Harry had no time to react, and feel to the ground as Link charged. Harry found himself on the floor with a sword only mere inches away from his neck.  
It was Link’s turn to smirk now “Good job Harry” he said sheathing his blade and helping Harry to his feet. “As of now you have performed the best” Link then whispered closely to his ear “I doubt you’ll beat Hermione though” he said with a light chuckle.  
Harry merely just played it off as a joke. Unfortunately it wasn’t. Ron went after him and proved to be no more than a punching bag as Link shrugged off his attacks and merely just shoved him to the ground.   
When Hermione came up next, Harry saw the determination in her eyes to win. At first she copied Harry’s strategy, attack the professor’s feet to force him back. It worked for a few moments until the professor charged at her.  
Harry with a few other students gazed in shock as Hermione stood her ground with her wand out stretched. Not making any defensive movement to stop Link at all!  
When Link slid behind her nothing happened between the both of them except Link stood back up to his full height and move his sword back into its sheath. He smirked slightly “200 points to Gryffindor!” he yelled.  
All of the student’s mouths dropped. Many began to protest the amount points that were given and for what reason. Link simply put up his hand to silent the protest.   
“For starters she did not falter when I charged Ms. Granger. Another is that she had her next spell prepared to counter me. All and all she has adapted well to my fighting style” Link’s eye began cold without hesitation “You all have learned to fight but only experience can truly teach you.”   
Link took a deep breath “I will let you all know that you have all passed the midterm!”  
The student’s cries of joy were enough to let Link sink in his chair smiling. He watch happily as each student congratulate each other. For a while Link felt happy watching these teenager celebrate. It was something he was never able to experience. The joy of success, Link sighed “Ok Ok you all…” feeling a sudden pain in his chest Link nearly threw up his lunch. Instead he grasped his throat and coughed dramatically. With a hand over his mouth Link looked upon his students. The pain that was running though his body was immeasurable.   
He stood up over his desk using one hand to support him “ you all have the ‘cough’ ‘cough’ the rest of the period off ‘cough’” Link was heaving over as he coughed. Many of the students left without a word of concern. However the golden trio stayed and watched as their professor was brought to his knees to some unknown pain.  
The pain that swept over Link was completely unbearable. It felt as if all his bones and nerves were forcefully moving him into an entirely different creature.   
The three looked upon there professor as he laid on the ground gritting hid teeth trying to hold back his screams.  
Harry stepped forward cautiously as his two friends stayed back. “Pro-professor are you alright?” Harry asked, taking a step further into the room, worried. 

Link jerked up a bit and quickly turned his head to the source of the voice, a look of horror quickly disappeared on his face as he almost looked like he snarled at the trio, making them back up. 

“Leave Now!” He yelled, almost growling at the end. He glared at the three of them. With no warning Link let out a violent caught that was followed by a river of blood. The red substance stained the floor as the professor’s body began to grew larger.  
“But professor your-” 

“LEAVE NOW!” Link screamed hoarsely, clutching his just tighter. 

Harry, Hermione, and Ron backed out into the hallway and sprinted down the hall, scared for their lives. Harry had never seen the professor act that way before, it was so out of character! A thought came across Harry’s mind as they ran. Could it have been…?

Link watched the three students run and sighed, slowly getting up, swaying slightly, and making it to the door. He closed it slowly, and locked it firmly, before turning to lean on it for support. His vision started to fade and when he tried to move off the wall, collapsed on the ground. His body started to twitch as, pain the only feeling he had in his body, as he shifted into a 7 foot werewolf. Black fur covered the body, long claws on its feet and piercing blood red eyes, which started to dart around the room as the creature rose. It charged at the door, clawing at the wood to escape, but to no avail. He howled loudly as, trapped within the room, no way to escape.


	4. Aftermath

Pounding could be heard echoing down the empty hall, it was so loud that even some of the resident ghosts turned their heads. It was coming from the DADA class room, where Link, who had transformed into a giant black wolf, continued to pound at the door, trying to escape. The thirst for blood was the only thing that the wolf could even think about and it needed it so badly. It attacked the door one last time before it gave up, starting to explore the room for any other exit. Realizing that the only way out was locked up thanks to that damn Hylian, the wolf just started to aimlessly roam around, nothing better he could do. 

Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally stopped running, out of breathe. They had sprinted out of the room as fast as they could and took a few moments to gather themselves. 

“Bloody hell, what was all that about?!” Ron exclaimed, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. 

“It must be the curse! There’s no other explanation…” Harry responded, whipping his forehead to get rid of any sweat that had developed as they ran. 

“We have to tell Dumbledore, he has to know that the charm isn’t working.” Hermione urged, concerned for the professor. Whatever was happening to him was scaring her; it wasn’t something she had seen before. 

Ron and Harry nodded in agreement and the three quickly made their way towards the headmaster’s office. Once they got there, all three noticed that Professor McGonagall was already outside the office. They ran up to her, surprising the older professor. 

“What are you three doing here? You know class starts in a minute.” McGonagall asked, looking down at the three 3rd years. 

“Something has happened professor and we need to speak to Dumbledore right away!” Hermione said urgently, catching the professor’s attention.

“What has happened?” She asked, surprised by the young girl’s reaction, out of the three of them Hermione was usually the calm one. 

“Professor Link! We heard something from his class room and we came in and saw he was in a lot of pain. We think it’s because of that curse he has.” Harry explained quickly, once again surprising the professor. 

“How do you three know about that!?” McGonagall asked, shocked that three knew about the professor condition. Then again, when it came to these three, they always seemed to find out secrets around the castle. 

Hermione scratched her head a bit, finding a way to explain, “Well we kind of ease dropped on the Professor and Dumbledore at the begging of the year and heard about the whole thing…” She explained sheepishly, looking up at the professor. 

McGonagall shook her head disappointedly but got back to the main subject, “Alright I’ll inform Dumbledore about what has happened but you three will go to your class and you won’t tell anyone what has happened. Understood?” She said, giving each a stern look. 

“Yes Professor.” The three said in unison. 

As the three students left McGonagall stayed where she was. She waited until the students were out of sight completely. When she was certain they couldn’t hear she whispered the secret password to Dumbledore’s office. The door opened and McGonagall swiftly ran up the stairs to the office.

When she reached the top she found Dumbledore sitting in his chair allowing his phoenix to nip his fingers. Without a proper invitation she interrupted the head master “Dumbledore! Please forgive my intrusions but something terrible has happened!” the professor said rushing over to the headmaster’s side.

Dumbledore lazily turned to her “What terrible event has occurred that has you so riled up?” he said with a small grin as he played with the phoenix 

McGonagall huffed slightly from the amount of stairs she ran up so quickly “Dumbledor please this is a serious issue that must be treated to” she said quickly between breathes 

Dumbledore looked at McGonagall with a twinkle in his eye “I never said it wasn’t important” he grinned slightly under his beard “I only asked what had you so worried”

The professor sighed in defeat and quickly calmed herself. “Professor Link sir” she stood tall almost looking down at the headmaster “I believe the curse in which he informed us has broken free.” 

The headmaster at Hogwarts typical happy demeanor suddenly turned serious. He stood up slowly from his desk “From where have you heard this from?” he asked coldly.

McGonagall simply looked down for a moment “I heard it from Harry Potter, Hermione…”

Dumbledore swiftly without warning walked by her. He quickly went down the stair case and in the hallways with McGonagall right behind him. Fortunately classes were in session so there were very little students. Dumbledore came to the room that Professor Link occupied. He slowly placed his ear to the door. Inside he could hear the sounds of something. Faint echoes of claws gliding across the stone floors. Heard whatever was behind the door come closer until it was right on the other side. Without warning the door shuttered as if being slammed by an enormous force from the other side. Dumbledore stepped back from a moment and then slowly moved back to the door. He tried to open the door and to his relief it was locked. 

‘Well done Link.’ He thought giving silent praise to professor for his forethought to lock the door first. 

Dumbledore looked towards McGonagall “The room is locked. I’ll place a spell on it to mute any sound that monster makes.” He pulled out his wand and did just as he said “Now please keep this quiet I don’t want word of another failed Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I rather like Link apart from his…..unfortunate downsides”

“How long…how long do you think he still like like….like this?” McGonagall asked watching Dumbledore finish his spell on the locked door.

As he finished Dumbledore breathed a sigh of relief. He slowly stroked his long beard pondering the answer to McGonagall’s question. “I suppose it’s up to him at this point.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The golden trio then departed for their class, leaving the professor behind to deal with the problem. Throughout the class, the only thing thy could think of was Link and what had happened to him. 

“What do you think the curse does?” Ron whispered to Harry as they sat through another boring History of Magic class. 

“No clue… but there was no denying why the professor tried to keep the curse a secret.” Harry whispered back, looking back to Binns when he looked up from his book. 

The class finally ended and Hermione departed from the group, saying she had to get something from the library and would see them later. Harry and Ron went back to the common room and sat down, finally able to relax. 

As they sat there, Harry looked over at Ron and whispered, “I do remember Snape saying the curse could slip every now and then…”

“Yeah well Snape also said it was very unlikely that it would happen, and look what happened. This must be a really powerful curse if a charm meant to seal it can’t do its job.” Ron whispered back.

“Must be more powerful then any magic in our country then.” Harry mumbled to himself, gazing down to the floor. 

“What do you mean by ‘our country’?” Ron asked, looking curiously at him. 

“Well the professor did say he was from another country. Don’t you remember he explained there were differences from our magic and his? So it’s probably the same with curses.” Harry explained to him in a hushed tone, glancing around to see if anyone could over hear. 

The two friends pondered the thought for rest of the evening and at dinner they met up with Hermione, who brought some new information to light.

“From what limited books on the professor’s country I could find, there wasn’t much except for a legend which talks about a hero who can travel through time and used the a sword known as ‘Blade of Evils Bane’ to defeat an evil tyrant.” She explained to them as they ate their food, “This legend to me sounds very similar to what the professor told us in class.” She added, surprising the two boys. “There’s an evil King named Ganondorf, a young warrior who fought and defeated the evil king”

“So the professor is the hero the legend talks about?” Ron said, though it was hard to tell because he was stuffing food into his mouth. 

“Yes, it’s the most logical answer and Ron!” She exclaimed, turning to him and then looked at him in disgust “Please try to chew your food so you don’t choke…”

The week pasted by with no sign of Link. His classes were told he had business to attend to and they were told to use the time as they saw fit, which pleased most of the class but left our favorite trio concerned. No one had seen him throughout the castle, which also saddened Hagrid, he had yet to receive the Dongo Dongos he was promised a few months before. 

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were currently walking towards the Great Hall for breakfast, preparing for the classes of the day. 

“So Hermione did we have any Divination homework?” Ron asked as the three of them sat down at the Gryffindor table. 

A frown came to Hermione’s face instantly at the mention of the class, “No, I don’t even know what we learn in that class! She basically just goes crazy over some stupid crystal ball or blots of tea.” Hermione said annoyed, the thought of that teacher just riled her up to no end. 

“She is kind of weird.” Harry added, grabbing some toast and butter for himself. 

“Are you serious? ‘Kind of’ is totally not the right phrase, I think she’s actual bonkers!” Hermione exclaimed, also grabbing something to eat.

Ron gave a bit of a shrug, “Well at least she’s here teaching, Professor Link hasn’t been seen for days and they keep using the same excuse.” Ron said, a familiar figure stopping behind him as he overheard the trio’s conversation. 

“Yes I do apologize for my absence.” 

The trio turned around quickly to see Link, a small smirk on his face. From what Harry could see he look perfectly normal, not anything like the last image he saw of the professor. 

“Professor! What happened to you and where have you been this entire week?” Harry asked, relived that he was ok. 

Link’s smirk faded as he gave Harry a pointed look, “It’s been a long week Harry, I know what you three saw and….” He looked down apologetic for a moment “Just please forget what you saw.” He whispered, not to be over heard at the number of students in the hall. 

Hermione frowned at that answer; he always had something to hide! “Professor I’m sorry but you can’t hide things forever! How can we trust you when you can’t even tell us something as simple as a legend?” She asked, earning a somewhat surprised look from the Hylian. 

His full focus was on Hermione, giving her a curious look. “What do you mean Ms. Granger?” He asked, irritation dripping from his voice. 

She didn’t back down, even though the look he was giving her freighted her slightly. “I did some research about Hyrule and read about a hero who overthrew a tyrant just like the one that shadow creature talked about…” As Hermione spoke she could see the usual calm polite demeanor of Link was fading. Instead his eyes became cold as daggers staring right at her. “ Uh…uh ..you…you’re the the that hero aren’t you professor?” She asked stuttering in-between words, the glare that Link gave her was one of the most horrifying things she ever saw. Almost like looking into the eyes of a murderer.

Link kneeled down to her eye level and his glare only got worse as he looked over the trio. He then looked directly at Hermione as he whispered in a harsh tone. 

“You three listen and listen well. This investigating is to stop now. What I choose to tell my students about my life is my concerns, not yours. Continue to investigate your ‘lead’ and you will find that I will be the least of your worries. Is that understood Ms. Granger?” 

Hermione’s eyes widen slightly and nodded quickly, “Ye-yes sir…” she whispered, her gaze now anywhere but at Link. 

He nodded slightly and stood back up to his proper height. He turned to leave but stopped, glancing over his shoulder to look at the trio.

“And to answer your question, yes I am that hero in the legend. But I’m here now to teach and protect my students, nothing more nothing less.” And with that he turned on his heel and walked out of the hall, leaving the three students to watch him as he left. 

The three sat there for a moment in silence when Ron chuckled nervously, trying to brighten the mood. 

“I don’t think he likes us anymore…” Ron said, scratching the back of his head. 

Harry nodded and pushed his food away, suddenly not very hungry. “I have to admit I would be pretty mad to if, people kept bothering me about my past….which they usually do.” Harry said, feeling guilty now. If he hated having people ask him about his past, he was sure the professor hated it even more, since he had probably been asked numerous times before. 

Soon the three left the hall, going up to the first class of the day. Meanwhile, Link was walking down one of the many halls in Hogwarts when he heard someone yelling his name. Confused, he stopped and looked behind him as he saw a figure running towards him.

“Professor! Hold on one moment please!” the figure yelled, running closer to reveal it to be Hagrid. 

Link nodded at the giant as he caught up to him and gave him a minute to catch his breath. 

“Professor I’m sorry to bother you but it’s been a few months and you haven’t told anything on those Dongo Dongos that are supposed to be coming” Hagrid said, standing up at his full height as he caught his breath. 

Link looked up at the giant with an apologetic expression, “Yes I did forget to tell you, a supplier said it would take about 3 months and I placed the order 2 months ago. So don’t worry they are coming.” He reassured. 

Hagrid smiled. “Alright thank you professor. I was just worried that you forgot,” he said, and turned to walk away, “Well have a nice day professor!” He gave a friendly wave and went back down the hall he had come from. 

Link continued down the hall, quickly making his way back to his office when he was met with Dumbledore just outside his classroom. Dumbledore, seeing him, gave him a faint wave and motioned him over to him. 

“Professor, how are you feeling?” He asked, looking Link up and down. 

Link shrugged a bit, “Better than I was that’s for sure.” He said, reassuring the headmaster. 

“Well that is good to hear,” Dumbledore said, smiling, “I also hear that Mr. Potter and his friends know about your situation.”

A frustrated sigh escaped him as Link crossed his arms, “Yes they do and they seem to know a few other things.” He said, still somewhat irritated at the trio. 

Though Dumbledore already knew what Link was going to say, he too looked a bit on the professors past, he played along. “Hm? Like what professor?” He asked. 

“They know about my past and who I am,” He explained, frowning, “I usual like keeping that a secret.”

Trying not to smile, Dumbledore kept a composed face, “Well I’m sure a few people knowing won’t hurt, but that’s not what I’m here for.” He said, surprising Link slightly. 

“Then what are you here for?” he asked, looking down at the headmaster. 

“I’m here to tell you that I’m bringing in a specialist to help Harry fight the Dementors, for some reason they have found an interest in him” Dumbledore explain, getting a slight reaction out of Link. 

“When will this specialist be coming?” Link asked, raising an eye-brow slightly. Were there such specialists in this land? 

“A month, no later.” Dumbledore answered. 

Link nodded in understanding as he bid a farewell to the headmaster, entering his classroom while Dumbledore left in the opposite direction to his own office. 

Meanwhile, Divination had just let out and with it a frustrated Hermione stormed out of that classroom. Harry and Ron followed behind, trying to calm their friend down to no avail. 

“First she doesn’t teach us anything then she gives us a test on subjects we haven’t even heard of! This is beyond ridiculous!” Hermione screamed, clenching her fist in frustration. 

Ron, again trying to calm her down, reassured her. “Hermione calm down, one bad test grade won’t fail you.”

Hermione sighed as she tried to calm herself down, “It’s not that, it’s the fact she is a teacher. She shouldn’t even be anywhere near a classroom!” She complained, sighing again to ease her soul. 

The three walked down the stairs and out to the courtyard where it was a brisk, but beautiful, fall day. They sat down to the side of the courtyard and pulled out some books to study, Harry tried to do the same but could never be as concentrated like Hermione, while Ron sat there enjoying the mild weather. They had not noticed that Malfoy had entered the courtyard with two of his “friends” and walked over to the trio, sneering at them. He had overheard Hermione’s outburst and just had to tease her about it, it was what he did best after all. 

“Look at that! Granger fails one little test and she goes ballistic! And to top that then she studies even more!” Malfoy taunted, hands on his hips as Hermione glared up at the blonde. 

“Shut it Malfoy. Why don’t you and your lackeys go back to the dungeons where you belong?” Hermione snapped back, not falling for the boys obvious taunting. 

Malfoy sneer turned into a deep frown, enraged at her attitude. How dare she treat him like that!? “How dare you say that to me you dirty little mud blood!” He exclaimed.

Ron quickly stood up and pushed Malfoy back a bit, anger surging through him. “You listen here Malfoy; you don’t ever say that again got it?” Ron yelled, stepping forward in a defensive like state. 

Malfoy looked at this and tilted his head to the side, smirking. “And what are you going to do Wesley?” Malfoy taunted, stepping closer. 

Ron quickly wiped out his wand, Malfoy following in suit, and both pointed it at the other, glaring at each other. 

Hermione went to Ron’s side and shook her head rapidly “Put it down Ron, he’s not worth the trouble.” She said, concerned for her friend. If he was to get into trouble or even get himself hurt because of her she wouldn’t forgive herself. 

He turned his head and looked at her. “Hermione, I’m not just going to stand by and let him call you that!” Ron retorted, turning to glare back at Malfoy.

“How honorably Wesley but you’re outnumbered.” Malfoy said motioning his friends to come over.

Harry then stepped up and pulled out his wand, also pointing it at Malfoy while Hermione protested the action. 

“Let’s be honest Malfoy, Ron and I are ten times better than you, so just leave.” Harry warned, trying to the two from fighting one another. 

Not taking the threat, Malfoy smirked and lifted his arm to cast a spell. With great surprise the young wizards felt an un-normally strong wind come from nowhere. The wind was so powerful it forced them to let go of their wands. The wands flew into the air for a moment before landing a few feet away. Surprised, the boys looked up to see Professor Link walking up to them and he didn’t look like a happy camper. 

He stopped in front of the group of students and glared first at Draco. “Draco I hope you weren’t about to cast a spell on another student or you’d have to consider yourself expelled,” He said, and then turned his glare to Harry and Ron, “Potter, Wesley, the same goes with you. Now all you come with me now, we can discuss this with Dumbledore.”

He motioned for the three boys to follow him, leaving Hermione there to worry about her friends. They walked quickly down the hall and ended up at the entrance of Dumbledore’s office. Link whispered the secret word and the statue moved to reveal stairs. When they got to the office, Link explained the whole situation to Dumbledore, who did not look pleased. 

“This is a complete outrage, a dual in the courtyard during the day,” the headmaster said, disapprovingly looking over the three students, “Draco you calling Ms. Granger a mud-blood was uncalled for, but that gives you boys no right to try to fight each other.

“Now Draco, you and your accomplices will serve detention with Hagrid.” A quite groan came from Draco at the mention of the giant’s name, and Dumbledore took his focus to the other two boys, “Harry and Ron you will serve detention with Professor Link. You are all dismissed, and if this ever happened again you will all be suspended. Do I make myself clear?” He asked. 

The three boys nodded and left the office, Link and Dumbledore watching them leave. The two boys quickly split from Draco as soon as they got into the hall and headed for their next class. 

After that class Harry began to think what time would this detention start? “So when is our detention anyways?” Harry asked Ron asked at lunch, the memory slipping from his mind. 

“After DADA so we don’t have far to go!” Ron joked, trying to lighten up the mood, though slightly failing. 

“I don’t understand why you two had to do that, I mean it’s just Malfoy” Hermione said, feeling bad they got a detention because of her. 

“Hermione we can’t just let him get away with everything, and now he knows that. So he won’t come near us or you again.” Ron explained, reassuring Hermione about the whole situation. 

The three left for DADA and class past by pretty quickly, nothing to eventful going on. Before class started, Link had reminded the boys to stay after class, which they reluctantly nodded to. The bell for the end of class rang and students started to gather their things, excited to leave. 

“Remember to read pages 160-170 for homework, take notes, and I will check on Monday. Enjoy your weekend and see you all at dinner.” Link called to his departing class, getting some groans and “oks” from the students. 

Hermione bid farewell to Harry and Ron and left the room. As soon as she did, Link shut the doors and walked to the front of the class room where Harry and Ron were waiting for him. 

“So what are you going to have us do? Paper work? An essay on something?” Ron asked in a disgruntled tone, not happy to stay after class. 

“All in good time Mr. Weasley, follow me.” Link said and walked by the boys, motioning them to follow him, which they did. 

Link opened the door to his office, the boys following in after him. Harry noted that the room had an adjoin door to it, probably the professors quarters. The room itself, like the class room, was very bland; no real decorations in site aside from yet again that shield that Harry took note of. Harry also observed a few photographs his desk and the wall; one looked like a younger version of the professor with a brown horse with a girl on the other side of it. He seemed happy in it, a small smile on his face. The professor walked over to his window and opened it, then sat down in his desk chair, motioning for the boys to sit in the two chairs in front of it. 

Link gave them an annoyed look, shaking his head slightly “What were you two thinking? Fighting in the courtyard…” he said is a disapproving tone. 

“Draco called Hermione a mud blood.” Ron retorted, trying to explain their actions. 

Link’s attention went straight at Ron, frowning. “That is no excuse, what he said was terrible but fighting in broad day light in the courtyard was stupid.” Link shot back, opening a draw in his desk. He pulled out a carton of cigarettes and pulled one out. 

That wasn’t something Harry was expecting and he frowned at the action. 

“Professor… I don’t think you’re allowed to smoke on campus or even in the castle.” Harry noted, earning a look from the professor. 

Link sighed and leaned forward on his desk, his cigarette in between his fingers. “How about this…if you don’t tell anyone I smoked this,” lifting up the cigarette a bit, “I’ll answer any question you have.” Link said with a small smile on his face. 

“Any question?” Ron asked in an excited tone.

“Anything Mr. Weasley.” 

Ron and Harry looked at each other and then back to the professor, nodding in agreement. Link grinned a bit more and pulled out a lighter, put the cigarette in his mouth and lighting it.

“Alright what is it you want to know? Be wise though you only get one question.” Link said blowing smoke out of his mouth.

“What does that curse do you?” Harry asked immediately, the one question that had been on his mind for days. 

Link sighed, leaning back in his chair a bit.

“The curse,” he started, taking the cigarette from his mouth, “Well it transforms my body into a wolf like creature. I completely lose all control over my mind and body and go on a total rampage, killing anything I see.” He stopped and tapped his chest, continuing “The curse’s energy comes from a crystal imbedded in my chest.”

“Who put the curse on you?” Ron asked, thoroughly interested for once in a story. 

Link smirked and wagged his finger. “No Mr. Wesley, the rules were one question. Remember?” Link said. 

“Right…” Ron responded disappointed, slouching a bit. 

Link put out his cigarette and looked back at the boys, his own questions forming in his mind. 

“Now I have a question for you Mr. Potter…” Link said, again leaning forward on the desk. 

Harry nodded, but then took the open chance the professor gave him. “I’ll answer if we get a question in return.” He responded, earning a grin from Ron. 

Link chuckled a bit and nodded. “You guys are more clever than I thought, fine we got deal.” He said in an impressed fashion. 

“Ok so what’s your question?” Harry asked. 

“What’s that scar on your forehead?” Link asked, now his tone more curious than anything. 

Harry paused, slightly surprised at the question. It didn’t occur to him, but since the professor was from a different land, he must have not heard the story of his encounter with Voldemort. 

“When I was a baby, an evil wizard killed my parents and tried to kill me. But for some reason I lived and he died… but this scar was left on forehead.” Harry explained, lightly touching said scar on his forehead. 

Link stared at him, sympathetic look on his face and lite another cigarette, once again blowing the smoke out of his mouth. 

“How terrible, I’m sorry to hear that. I myself never knew my mother or my father, just the friends around me.” He replied, his gaze turning distant as he looked down at one of the photographs he had on his desk. 

“Hey professor.” Ron’s voice breaking Link’s concentrations, making him look up. “our early agreement still stands.” Ron said with a wide grin across his face.

Link looked down for a moment realizing he had started a second cigarette! “Hahaha Well I guess you two have another question then!” He said happily scratching the back of his head. Link then let out a quick drag from the smoking stick. 

Link then ashed half the cigarette and looked up at the boys “So what’s next question?”

“Alright who’s Ganondorf? We want the full explanation.” Ron demanded, looking the professor in the eye.

Link nodded to the question and went on to explain. “In my country there is a tribe of all women called the Gerudo. Every 100 years a male is born and he becomes king. You can guess that was Ganon, he ruled the Gerudo and tricked the Hyrule Royal Family into believing he was good and peaceful. Then when no one expected he attacked the capital city and killed the Royal Family except for the princess. He claimed the Triforce of Power and ruled the land for about 7 years, until I came and ended his life and sent his soul into another realm” Link explained calmly, gazing down at his own hand for a moment but then back to the boys. 

“He did all that, how is that even possible?” Ron mumbled to himself.

Link glared at Ron, the student thought he was going too deep into his questioning when the professor pulled out a third cigarette. Link gave the boy a wide grin “Well allow me to explain to you……” The professor lite his cigarette and looked out towards the lake.

“In my country we believe the world was created by 3 goddesses, Din, Farore, and Nayru.” This got the boys eye brows raised, interested and surprised, “When they left, they left behind the Triforce, made out of 3 golden triangles each holding the power of the Gods in them. The Triforce chooses a bearer whose soul resides with the gods, Power which is Din, Wisdom which is Nayru and Courage is Farore.” Link explained thoroughly, unwrapping his left hand and brought it up for the boys to see a faint gray triangle on it. 

“I hold the Triforce of Courage; the Princess of Hyrule holds the Triforce of Wisdom and Ganon held the Triforce of Power. So to answer your question he was able to do so much because he had the power of the gods with him” Link explained, rewrapping his hand, ending his explanation. 

He smiled a bit at the boys who seemed to be in a bit of awe. “I think you both have learned your lesson, having to hear a babbling old man talk about his past. You both are dismissed.” Link said motioning them out.

Harry and Ron both got up, thanking the professor and left through the office door, and then running out of the classroom. With all these new developments, they had to let Hermione know what they had learned from their mysterious new professor.


	5. Remus Lupin

Running up the stairs, Harry and Ron finally arrived at painting that hide the Gryffindor common room. Saying the password both entered into the room, eager to tell Hermione about the things they learned about the professor. They scanned the room as they entered and found Hermione sitting off to the side, reading the Daily Prophet. They both jogged over to her, causing the brunette to look up from her paper. 

“Oh you’re back! So what did the professor have you do?” she asked, folding her paper up and placing it next to her. 

“Nothing, actually. We sat there as he basically just told us everything about him, his curse and his past! All for letting him smoke!” Harry whispered in an excited tone. 

Hermione looked at the two, stunned. “You’re kidding!” she exclaimed in shock, leaning forward. 

“Nope! We’re telling the truth.” Ron responded, grinning proudly. 

“Well, don’t just stand! Sit down and tell me.” She said, motioning quickly for the boys to sit down in the chairs around her. 

Both sitting down, they told Hermione in a hushed tone what they learned from their professor. About what the curse did to him, who Ganondorf really was, and what the Triforce truly was. Hermione leaned back, mostly in shock, astonished on how much information the two had gathered in such a short time. 

“So the curse makes him transform into a werewolf?” she whispered, making sure she heard it correctly. 

Harry nodded. “Yeah that’s what he said.” He whispered back. 

She crossed her arms, thinking. “Then that means it’s a very powerful curse for him to be transformed into a full werewolf…” she mumbled, pondering the thought. 

Just then, Ron shot up, surprising his two friends.

“Wait! What time is it?” He exclaimed, looking around. 

Harry gave him an odd look, raising his eyebrow slightly. “Uh… around 7 I think.” He responded. 

“Come on guys we’ll talk later! Its dinner now!” Ron exclaimed, bolting to the entrance of the room. 

Hermione shook her head and smiled at Harry. “Like I said before, all he thinks about is food…” she said as the two followed the red head out of the room. 

Catching up with Ron, the three made their way down to the Great Hall. When they entered, Ron was first to notice dinner had yet to be served, making him slightly depressed as they sat down. 

“Come onnn when is the food coming?” Ron whined, laying his head down on the wooden table. 

Harry patted his back, soothing his friend. “Calm down Ron it comes at the same time every time.” He said, having to remind Ron of that fact very often. 

“I know but today feels like its taking longer…” He grumbled, hitting his head on the table lightly. 

At this Hermione had to roll her eyes. “Patience is a virtue Ron…” she said, shaking her head. 

He turned and looked at her, “So is food.” He said, smiling at his own statement. 

Ron’s prays were finally answered when the food was presented, appearing always right before his eyes. He quickly grabbed anything he could, put it on his plate and eating as much as it as he could. 

“Ah, now that was good!” Ron exclaimed, finishing up a portion of his dinner. 

“Good I’m glad you stuffed yourself like a savage beast” Hermione said in a sarcastic tone, earning a glare from Ron. 

While the two bickered about pointless matters, Harry noticed from the corner of his eye Dumbledore and a man he didn’t know approaching him. 

“Harry I’m sorry to interrupt your dinner but I need you to come with me for a few minutes, it’s something important” Dumbledore said when he got to Harry. 

Harry nodded and got up from his seat. “It’s no problem sir.” He said, telling his friends he be back in a few minutes.

Harry followed Dumbledore and the mysterious man out of the Great Hall into a nearby corridor. He took this tie to glance over at the man, noticing that he had a few scars on his face. He was taller than Harry and had brown hair. He wore a muggle type of suit, which was different from what all the other wizards he saw wore. They stopped in the hall and the two men stood in front of Harry. 

“Harry I want you to meet Remus Lupin,” Dumbledore said, gesturing to the man next to him, “He will be helping you in protecting yourself from the Dementors.” 

Harry looked up to the man and held out his hand. “Nice to meet you.” He said, shaking Lupin’s hand when he outstretched it. 

“Like wise Mr. Potter.” Lupin responded, nodding his head towards Harry. 

“Remus will be teaching you spells that you wouldn’t be learning in class. So you will miss around 4 of your classes, but you will be excused from them.” Dumbledore explained to the black haired boy who nodded. 

“Sir not to be rude but is it necessary? The Dementors haven’t attacked since the quidditch match…” Harry asked, looking a bit skeptical at the headmaster. 

“Harry the Dementors for some reason keep attacking you and it worriers me. Remus knows the perfect spell for your protection and look at it this way, your going to miss most of your class.” Dumbledore explained in a concerned tone, but gave Harry a reassuring smile. 

Lupin nodded at the headmaster and looked down at Harry. “We will be meeting everyday after breakfast in room 128, it hasn’t been used in years and it’s out of the way. You’ll miss periods 1-3 and you should get to 4th period a little late.” He explained.

Harry frowned at that statement. That was when DADA was and he had a feeling Link hated people being late even with an excuse. He shivered at the thought of his professor glaring at him throughout the class. 

He shook it off and nodded. “Alright when do we start?” He asked. 

“On Monday.” Lupin answered simply, 

“Alright Harry, that’s all we needed to discus. You may go back to dinner now, Remus and I have some business to discuss.” The headmaster said, motioning for the boy to leave. 

Harry nodded and left the two behind, walking back into the Great Hall to join Hermione and Ron. 

That weekend nothing truly eventful happened, from studying to homework, it was pretty normal. On Monday morning, Harry could only think what Lupin would teach him to fight Dementors as he entered the Great Hall for breakfast with Ron and Hermione 

“So what’s his name again?” Ron asked as they sat the table. 

“Remus Lupin.” Harry responded, grabbing something from a nearby bowl of fruit. 

“And why are you being taught this instead of going to regular classes?” He asked, confused why a specialist had to come in. 

Harry shrugged. “Not sure, Dumbledore doesn’t like how the Dementors have attacked me and I guess he’s just looking after my well being.” 

“It is nice of Dumbledore to bring in a specialist for Harry but it’s also kind of odd. Usually he would just take care of the problem himself.” Hermione added, glancing up at the headmaster. 

“Dementors are searching for Black and that’s the Ministries top priority. So he probably doesn’t want to interfere in the Ministries plans…” Ron said, throwing the idea out there. 

Harry shrugged again and took a bite of his food. “Still I don’t mind it. I get to miss a good portion of the day.” He added in a happy tone. 

“Whatever,” Ron huffed in a bit of jealousy, “you still have to come to DADA late and who knows what the professor does to kids who are late.” 

Harry but down his food and frowned a bit at that. “Yeah that’s the only thing I’m worried about…” He mumbled, hoping that all went well that day. 

Harry finished up his fruit just as Lupin walked into the hall and came up to Harry with a smile on his face. 

“Mr. Potter are you ready to go?” He asked. 

Harry turned around and looked up at the man and nodded. “Yes I am.” He responded, getting up from the table and grabbing his things. 

Harry turned to his friends and nodded at them. “I’ll see you guys later.” He said, and then followed Lupin as they both walked out of the hall. 

Ron watched them walk out and turned to Hermione. “So where do you think they’re going?” He asked. 

The brunette shrugged. “No idea.” She responded, turning back to her food. 

“Who’s that with Mr. Potter?” 

Ron and Hermione whipped around and looked up to the source of the voice, Professor Link. From what Hermione could see he was watching Lupin and Harry walk out with an annoyed and suspicious look on his face. He then turned his attention on two and motioned for them to answer.

“We’re not really sure professor…” Ron said nervously, not liking the look on the professor’s face. 

Link turned his head and glared at the man’s back as he and Harry finally disappeared from his line of sight. The moment that man came into the room, Link took noticed something was off; something about the scar faced man didn’t feel right to him. Hermione took notice of the glare and became concerned. 

“Everything alright professor?” She asked, staring up at him. 

He blinked, glancing down at her and nodding a bit. “I’m fine, enjoy breakfast and don’t be late for today’s class you two.” He said, walking out of the hall, leaving the two students confused. 

Lupin lead Harry down a series of halls, finally arrive at a room that Harry himself couldn’t remember seeing before. It was in a very obscure part of the castle he supposed. Lupin pushed open the door and walked in, Harry following behind him. It was a very spacious room, desks and chairs pushed to the sides and dust seemingly on every inch of the room. Lupin stopped in the middle of the room and turned to Harry, causing Harry to quickly stop to not walk into him. 

Lupin chuckled a bit and put his hands in his pockets, smiling at the boy. “Alright Harry, so what do you know about Dementors?”

Harry thought for a long moment, nothing really coming to mind. “Uh… nothing at all really…” He said.

Lupin blinked in surprise, shaking his head in disbelief. “Well no wonder Dumbledore contacted me! A dementor is a creature who feeds on the horrible memories of their victims.” 

“So that’s why I heard that scream.” Harry mumbled to himself, the memory of the screaming still prevalent in his mind. 

“What was that you said?” Lupin said, leaning towards Harry, starling him a bit. 

Harry stood slightly star-struck, had he said that out loud? Cursing himself in his head, he looked down at the ground and didn’t meet the man’s eyes. He had just met him, could he trust Lupin with this information? 

He looked up at him and saw Lupin patiently standing there, watching Harry, and waiting for an answer. He seemed nice enough, and if Dumbledore trusted him, Harry could too.   
“Well…on the train ride to Hogwarts when I was attacked by a dementor, I heard a scream in my head. I sounded like a woman’s screaming, but… I don’t know who’s… ” Harry explained.

Lupin tilted his head to the side slightly, confused. “The dementor just left after it attacked?” He questioned, “That’s odd…or did something happen to chase it away?” 

Harry again thought for a moment, trying to remember what Hermione had told him. “Well…Hermione mentioned that Professor Link drove it away after it attacked me.” He responded. He was kind of shocked when a dark expression went over Lupin’s face, but it quickly disappeared and was replaced with a smile. 

“Interesting…let’s get on with the lesson, shall we?” Lupin said, pulling out his wand from the inside of his jacket.

“I will be teaching you a defensive spell which is perfect for fighting Dementors.” He explained, flicking his wrist a bit, “It’s called the patronus charm and in order for it to work, a happy memory is needed. But not just any memory, it has to be a very powerful one.

He turned away from Harry and pointed his wand to the end of the room, motioning Harry to watch. “To cast the patronus, simply hold your wand in front of you and say ’Especto Patronum’.” Instantly, light flew out of the man’s wand, blinding Harry slightly in the process. 

Lupin turned to him and smiled, “Now let’s get working shall we?”

With that Harry began practicing, not even being able to get a light out of his wand. He tried over and over, but nothing would come out. He began to get frustrated and took a break, letting himself breathe a little. 

Lupin would ask Harry what he was thinking of and each time he shot it down, telling him that those types of memories just weren’t strong enough. It had to be something that would bring complete joy even at the slight thought of it. 

Harry finally gave up, glaring down at his wand and he sighed in frustration. He turned to Lupin, who was leaning on one of the chairs, and gave him an exhausted look. “Sir we’ve been at this for hours. Can we continue this tomorrow?” 

Lupin looked Harry over, taking note on how tired he looked. He nodded, getting up from the chair and walking over to the boy with a smile. “Guess you’re right and you’re supposed to go back to class anyway. So I’ll accompany you there so there is no misunderstanding.” He walked towards the door, with Harry behind, and left the class room back to its former silence. 

The two walked down the hallway, through a set of stairs and then another hallway, finally arriving at the DADA room. Lupin opened the door, walking into the room with Harry behind. The students seemed to be working on a paper, some turning their heads to see who had entered while others kept themselves at work.

Link’s head shot up when the door opened, seeing Harry and that man walk into the room. A frown immediately formed on his face as he got up quickly and walked over to the pair, glaring at Lupin, than turning his attention to Harry. 

“Alright Potter, out with it.” He said in a commanding tone, his hands going to his hips. 

Before Harry could answer, Lupin had stepped forward toward the professor, cutting Harry off. “I’m sorry Professor, but Mr. Potter was with me under direct orders from Dumbledore. I’m sure you understand.” He shot back in a calm tone, standing meeting the eyes of the Hylian. 

Darting his eyes to match the brown that were staring him down, Link glared fiercely at the scared man. Harry stood there, not sure what to do. He could tell that there was some sort of mind battle going on between the two and he didn’t really want any part of it. 

“Potter.” Harry yelped slightly, brought back by Link’s deep tone. The professor was still glaring at Lupin as he spoke, "Go take a seat and turn to page 105, Mr. Weasley will fill you in.”

Harry complied, nodding a little too quickly, and made his escape to where the red head sat. He glanced back at the two men and saw that Lupin had broken off the gazing battle and left the room. Link went and closed the doors, a dark expression on his face as he passed by the students, going back to his desk and working back on whatever he was doing before. 

Harry brought out his book and opened it to the page the professor told him to go to when Ron leaned over to him. “So what did you learn?” he whispered, curiosity getting the best of him. 

Harry hushed him a bit, worried that the professor would hear him thanks to his sensitive hearing. “It was very interesting but I’ll tell you later,” he whispered back, “What are we working on?” 

Ron frowned disappointedly and pointed to a specific paragraph on the page. “Something about skeletons, mostly just taking notes.” 

As Harry took notes, he glanced up and noticed that the professor had gotten up and began closing the shades in the room. He quickly left up the projector and told the class to close their books. The slide showed a picture a skeleton in armor holding a shield and sword which the professor called a Stalfos. Link directed the students do quick sketches of the creatures and then ended the class early. 

The trio walked out of the room and headed back towards the Gryffindor tower. Hermione looked over at Harry, who was looking slightly tired, and asked him what he had learned with Lupin, eager to know what happened. 

Harry yawned, looking over at the girl. “It’s called a patronus charm and it is very hard to master. Lupin can do it easily but I can barely get an ounce of magic energy out of my wand.” He explained in a frustrated tone, still upset with himself. 

“A patronus charm?” She exclaimed in astonishment, surprising Harry, “You’re right Harry that is a very complicated spell! Something that is usual not taught to 3rd years.”

Ron, lost on the subject, asked a question of his own. “What does a patronus charm do exactly?”

“Lupin said it’s used against dark creatures like Dementors, it using a positive memory and it sends out a barrier of positive energy to protect you from the creature.” Harry explained, earning a confused look from Ron. 

They made it back to the tower and the month past without any incident, brining yet another out of character peaceful moment to the school. Soon, snow began to fall and the air turned from a crisp fall chill to a winter freeze. 

During this month, Harry had improved his ability in the patronus charm, making him and Lupin proud. One morning, Harry had awoken earlier then all the other boys in the room. He put on his glasses and looked out the window, watching the sun slowly coming over the mountains. 

He quickly got dressed, warmly of course, and headed out of the tower through the halls of the school. He made his way to the bridge that led out to Hagrid’s hut and leaned on the railing, watching the sun rising, taking in the scene in awe. The sun was peeking over the mountains now and it added a soft pink color to the clouds; it almost looked like something out of a painting. 

“Beautiful isn’t it?” 

Eyes widening, Harry turned around startled at the voice then sighed, seeing it was Lupin walking up to him, staring over the sun rise. He smiled at Harry and stood next to him, leaning up against the railing. 

Harry turned his gaze back to the sunrise, for some odd reason feeling uncomfortable around the man. “Uh… yes sir it is.” He replied, bothered by the feeling. 

They both stayed silent for a few moments before Harry heard Lupin sigh, causing him to turn his head and look at him. The professor look to be thinking about something before he also turned to look at Harry. 

“Harry I need to ask you something,” he said, locking his hands together on the railing, “I feel like the professor for DADA is hiding something and I know you know something about him.” 

Harry eyes widen slightly and quickly broke his gaze with the man, looking down at the rocks beneath the bridge. What did Lupin want to know about the professor? And how did he know that he knew something about him?

“I don’t know anything about him sir,” He said in the calmest voice possible, still looking away from Lupin, “All I know is he is from another country.” 

Lupin frowned at the answer knowing that the boy was lying to him. “Harry its ok for you to tell me, he won’t hurt you. I’ll make sure of it.” He assured the boy, the end of his sentence also adding a very protective tone. 

That got Harry to look back up at him and saw that Lupin had a genuine look of concern on his face. “I mean sir,” he said, “I don’t really understand why you want to know.” 

Lupin sighed; the boy seemed very protective of this teacher. He had no idea why, from what he saw this Link fellow seemed to an angry fellow. Something about the look in his eye and the aura he gave off made Lupin suspicious. “He’s hiding something Harry and it could endanger you and the entire school.” He explained, his voice getting riled up out of sheer concern for the boy than anything else. 

Harry saw that and thought for a moment that maybe he should tell Lupin. After all he was concerned for Harry, which was something that Harry was still getting used to. Against his better judgment, he decided he would tell Lupin. “Well…” he started, earning a small smile from Lupin, “He did mention-” But Harry cut himself short and he paled slightly, looking past Lupin at the figure coming towards them.

Confused by the sudden, Lupin followed the boys gaze and turned around, seeing that cause of Harry’s fear. Link, donning his usual wear plus a scarf under the cloak, slowly walked up the two, a fierce glare in his eyes. He stopped a few feet away from them and for the next few moments, the only thing that was heard was the sound of the wind.


	6. Tensions

The tension in the air between Lupin and Link was so high that Harry was almost afraid to even breathe. They had been standing there in silence for who knows how long and both parties were staring daggers at each other. If looks could kill, it would be a messy scene on this bridge, a steady hatred building between the two men. 

Harry finally breathed and stepped out from behind Lupin, making the bravest face he could muster up. “Professor… good morning.” He said, breaking the tension between the two as Link’s eyes turned to him. 

“Lupin…what are you doing with my student?” Link growled, looking up from the boy back to Lupin, who kept a frown on his face. 

Lupin shrugged a bit, a smirk tugging on his lips. “Trying to find out what you’re hiding,” he said, without hesitation, “and he’s my student as much as yours.” 

Link’s frowned deeper, turning his attention back to Harry. “Potter, get back inside.” He ordered in a gruff tone. He didn’t need this boy more involved then he already way. Dumbledore had warned him that Potter and his friends could by a bit of a nuisance. 

Harry nodded, frightened by the professor’s tone, and moved to walk away when a hand shot out in front of him. He looked up at Lupin, who had stopped him but his attention was still on the blonde haired man. 

“No Harry,” He said calmly, moving his arm back to his side, “Tell me what you were going to say.”

Link had to resist the urge to attack this man; he was starting to get on the Hylian’s last nerve. Clenching his teeth, Link tried to keep himself somewhat calm. “Stop this Lupin,” He growled through his teeth, “I don’t want the boy involved anymore then he is now.”

That smile finally appeared on Lupin’s face, a victorious feeling flowing through him. “So you are hiding something.” He said, putting his hands in his pockets. 

Link shrugged, causing the smile on Lupin’s face slightly slip. “Who doesn’t have something to hide?” He asked, giving the man a knowing glaring, “It’s natural for everyone to hide something, don’t you think?” the last bit was said with a more intense glare from Link.

They stood in silence for a few moments before Link suddenly turned on his heel and walked away, back towards the entrance of the bridge. Watching the professor walk away, guilt washed over Harry. He had almost told Lupin information about Link, information he promised to keep secret. Now he would probably never trust him again and Harry slumped at that thought. 

Lupin turned to the boy, seeing the distressed look on his face, and frowned. “Harry I’m sorry I had to put you through that,” He apologized, putting his hand on Harry’s shoulder.  
“But he’s hiding something and I need to know what.” 

Harry looked up to the man and nodded, putting on a fake smile for him. Lupin smiled and let go of his shoulder, pushing the boy forward and telling him to go back to his tower. Harry walked down the bridge and into the castle, that smiling fading as soon as he lost sight of Lupin. 

His mind was racing through ideas as to what Lupin wanted to know about the professor. The question seemed out of nowhere to him, neither had much contact with one another beside that one incident with Lupin bringing Harry to class late. But that couldn’t be the reason why Lupin wanted information. There had to be something else that Harry just wasn’t seeing. 

As he was walking through the castle lost in thought, Harry was suddenly grabbed from behind, breaking him out of his thoughts. He was dragged down a side hall and was shoved against a wall, face to face with Link, who didn’t look pleased. 

“Potter!” He growled, grabbing a fistful of Harry’s robe, blue eyes filled with a mixture of emotions, “What the hell do you think you’re doing!” Link said pushing the boy harder against the wall.

To say Harry was scared would be an understatement. He was horrified out of his mind; he had never seen the professor this angry before. “Professor I swear I didn’t tell him anything!” He pleaded, trying to squirm out of Link’s grasp to no avail. 

Link looked at him as if he was an idiot and shook his head, a laugh escaping him. Did this kid not understand? “That’s not the point! You were going to tell Lupin more than any professor in this castle! Do think there’s a reason only Snape and Dumbledore know!” He yelled at his student before harshly throwing him to the ground.

Harry hit the ground the stone floor. He staggered up quickly to try and explain himself. Harry stood there, opening and closing his mouth, not being able to think of anything to say. “Professor-” He was cut off by Link, who was just shaking his head at the boy. 

He glared darkly at him, no sense of remorse anywhere on his face. “Excuses will get you nowhere with me Potter.” He scoffed, turning away from the boy and walking out of the hall, leaving Harry alone with nothing to say. 

Harry slide down the wall and sat there for a while, staring at the wall and thinking about what had happened. What Link said was true and it hurt Harry to know that his professor couldn’t trust him anymore. He could tell that underneath the constant frowns, Link was a good person at heart with good intentions. He shook his head, guilt washing over him, and slowly got up. 

He made his way back to the tower and entered the common room and looked around. He saw Neville and Ron sitting off to the side of the room, Neville reading The Daily Prophet and Ron leaning back in the chair eating some sort of candy. 

Neville looked over his paper and saw Harry walking into the common room. “Hey Harry, where did you run off to this morning?” He asked, startling Harry slightly. 

Harry glanced over to him, lost as to what to say. “Uh… nowhere special, just went out for some air.” He replied, shrugging a bit. He left it at that and walked towards his room, leaving Neville and Ron confused. 

Harry walked up stairs and into his room, shutting the door behind him. He went over to his bed and put his face in the pillow, laying there for about an hour before he had to go to class.

The day went on like it always did, Ron scarfing down food, Hermione cursing Divination under her breath. Harry for the most part was quiet for most of the day. The events of the morning kept rolling around in his head, even during his train with Lupin. It was made worse when Harry started walking to DADA with Lupin by his side, nervous to see the professor. 

Lupin took quick notice to Harry’s quite mood and became concerned. He stopped the boy outside the room and looked hi in the eye. “Harry is there something wrong?” He asked. 

Harry internally sighed; this was not what he wanted to deal with right now. He just wanted to get to class and have the day be over. “No sir, just tired is all.” He responded, putting his hand on the door to make a quick exit. 

Lupin didn’t buy that and put his own hand against the door, staring down at him. “Harry,” he said in a concerned tone, “be honest with me. Did anything happen after the professor and I had our little exchange?” 

Harry glanced up at Lupin, his expression emotionless, and shook his head. “No, nothing happened sir.”

Lupin stayed silent for a moment and sighed, taking his hand off the door. “If you insist then…” He said under his breathe. 

Harry turned away and opened the door to the room, quickly taking his seat next to Ron and taking out his book. 

The moment the door opened, Link stood up from his desk and walked out of the room, locking eyes with Lupin and closed the door. Immediately, all the students turned their heads and tried to listen in on whatever was going on. 

“What’s going on?” Ron asked, looking at Harry who just sighed a bit. 

“Link doesn’t like Lupin and Lupin doesn’t like Link is the jest,” he explained, laying his head against the table, “This morning they had an argument over Link’s secret, Lupin had asked me about what Link had told us and Link happen to overhear.” 

Ron blinked in confusion and scratched his head a bit. “Why do you think he wants to know?” He asked, to which Harry shrugged, “I mean he’s only here to teach you, why would he care about another teacher?” 

The door opened, causing all the students to turn their heads back around. Link walked into the room and slammed the door as hard as he could have, making Harry wince a bit. He walked back up to his desk and sat down, going back to doing whatever he did at the desk, but a bit angrier than before.

The rest of the class was spent taking notes on defending against other wizards and witches. They were to write down the spells and have most of them memorized by the next class. Harry asked what page he needed to go to and started to take down the notes like all the other students. He had a feeling this feud was going to go on for awhile.

Harry was correct on his prediction, because for the rest of the week it was a stare off between the two men. When Harry would be dropped off, they would glare at each other, at dinner the same routine, and in the hall it felt like they were just going to beat each other. Harry was stuck in the middle of it all, only having Hermione and Ron reassure him things would be ok. 

By the end of the week, Link was in a permanent foul mood. He walked into the room and slammed the door shut, sighing deeply, untied his robe, and tossed it to side of the room. He sat down and pulled out a quill, starting his daily routine of grading papers until the wee hours of the night. 

As he was grading about the tenth paper, a snickering laugh flowed throughout the room, a laugh he knew too well. He turned around and looked out the window across the room, spotting a Poe soul holding a lantern swaying back and forth. He stood for his seat and grabbed his sword from his scabbard, going over to the window and opening it, glaring at the spirit. 

“Heheheh look who it is,” it taunted, gleefully swaying back and forth, “It’s the great hero of time! How have you been these last few years?” 

The Poe was just out of his distance, so Link sadly couldn’t kill it with his sword. “What do you want?” Link asked, his voice dripping with annoyance. Could he never catch a break?

“Whoa don’t get mad at me,” The Poe defended, backing off a bit, “I was sent here by Lord Ganondorf! hehehe! He wants to make sure you stay in the same spot for a while.” He flew back towards Link, its mood changing swiftly from defensive to glee. 

This made Link’s frown deepen, his eyes narrowing slightly. “And why does he want that?” 

The creature snickered, making it bounce up and down slightly. “So his phantom can find and kill you of course! And of anyone who gets in the way will be dealt with as well!” The Poe exclaimed, swaying back and forth happily. 

Link glared at the spirit “His phantom? You mean that reject of a minion? Does he honestly think that stupid creature can best me?” 

The poe stopped moving for a second “hhhmmm you are right….” It said trialing off into some deep thought looking away from Link. For a few silent moments the poe said nothing and Link merely just stared.

The poe spirit suddenly began to move through the air rapidly and laughing gleefully. The noise the poe was making began to annoy Link greatly. “Shut up you stupid spirit!” he yelled

The poe stopped what it was doing to. “Well now that was rude…Why would you interrupt a messenger? I’m only here to deliver good news!” the creature said still out of Link’s reach. “Besides what I had said earlier was all I had now it’s just fun to watch you get frustrated hehe”

Link quickly took out his sword and pointed it at the poe. “All you have said is worthless! You’re nothing then a lonely old spirit who can’t find rest!” Link said harshly as fire began to envelope his sword “Now tell me something of worth or ill slay you here.” The cold dark glare in his eyes made the poe float more away from him.

The poe stared at the flaming sword before him. It had known Link was well taught in magic but using a sword as an extension of magic was completely insane! The poe started to float farther away “me ummm I’m sorry but I have to get to my other post now….” The poe said frightened. It turned away slowly believing it was out of ear shot for Link. 

“Ugh so much easier watching that women and that brat, then him”. 

Link heard the statement as clear as day and something in Link snapped. Link no matter what loved his family and he would never let anything harm them. He clenched his teeth and glared darkly at the Poe. “Harming me is fine,” He growled, causing the Poe to stop swaying, “But harming my family” the fire around his blade began to intensify “or any single student on this campus and I’ll make sure I send you, Ganondorf and all his minions to hell myself!”

The Poe laughed, taking his threat for nothing. “Ha! Big talk for someone who can’t even hit me!” He exclaimed, becoming gleeful once again. 

Slowly, a devilish smirk slide onto Link’s as he extended his sword arm towards the poe.

Link glared at the poe “Din’s Inferno!” Link yelled and without a second fire shot from the sword to the poe in rapid speed. The poe like Dark Link had no time to react. The fires of din engulfed the undead spirit. 

“AAAGGGHHHAAAHHHH!!!!! PLEASE STOP STOP!! SHOW MERCY!!!!!!” screamed the Poe in anguish as the fires burned him to ashes. 

He quickly sheath his blade and watched the ashes whisked into the wind, panting from using so much energy. “Get used to it… I hear hell is just like it…” He said to no one in particular, watching the last of the ashes leave. 

He walked slowly over to his desk, careful not to fall, and sat down in his chair, leaning back enough to look at the ceiling. He let his eyes close for a minute, then opened them half-way, thinking about what the Poe said. “It’s only going to be a matter of time before it finds me…” he mumbled to himself, closing his eyes again. 

Link willed himself to finish up his grading and stretched as he got up from his seat, walking over to his bed and sitting down. He took of his boots and placed them to the side, then taking of his green tunic and chain mail. As soon as his head hit the pillow, Link fell into dreamless sleep, something he hadn’t done in a long time. 

The next morning, Ron, Hermione, and Harry sat around in the Great Hall, watching some of the professors start to put up decorations as they were eating. This was one time of year that Hogwarts shined more than usual; the decorations that were hung made the school look marvelous. 

Hermione sat at the table, silent for most of time. Something was on her mind, but Harry just hadn’t asked yet. If she needed to say something, she’d tell them. “Did any of you guys notice a sudden burst of light last night?” She asked, finally coming out of her silence. 

Ron shook his head, grabbing some more toast for himself. “Not that I noticed, why?”

The brunette sighed, putting her head in her hand. “Just…I was sleeping and all of a sudden there was this bright light outside the window.” She replied, tapping her fingers against the table, thinking. 

Harry shrugged a bit at the thought, brushing it off. “Probably either Fred or George, pulling another prank or something.”

Ron stopped eating for a moment and looked around the hall, earning a confused look from Harry. He turned back to the black haired boy. “Hey doesn’t that Lupin guy come by now to get you Harry?” He asked, swallowing his food. 

Now that Harry thought about it, Ron was right. “You know now that you bring it up yeah…” he mumbled. He too glanced around the hall and didn’t see Lupin anywhere. He looked up to the professor’s table and also took note that Link wasn’t there either. 

This didn’t bother Hermione, who just shrugged at the boys. “I guess he’s not here today, which is nice. You get to have a break right?”

Harry turned back to the table and nodded, his mind racing a bit. Something about not seeing the professor today had made him nervous, it brought up a memory from earlier in the week, when they were in Divination. 

It had been a somewhat normal that day, Trelawney had them working with tea cups and having it tell the future, or something along those lines from what Harry remembered. She would come around the room and seemed to be looking at many of the predictions the students had, making her happy and the students more confused. 

But it was only when she had gotten over to Harry that she became very serious and gave him a horrified expression. “Yours…” she said tremble, giving the cup back to him, “Yours tells of an upcoming danger to one you know…be very cautious Harry, something terrible is going to happen very soon…” She backed up slowly away from him that horrified expression still on her face. 

Harry was shook out of his memory by Hermione, who told him that they were going to go to Hagrid’s hut. He nodded and got up, walking out with his friends, the memory still nagging him. As the entered the court yard, they were stopped by Lupin who had caught up to the three students. 

“Harry I’m sorry I wasn’t here this morning, but you can come with me now.” He apologized, standing behind the trio. 

He internally ground, but Harry agreed and bid his friends goodbye as he walked off with Lupin to their usual practice room. 

“Alright Harry sorry again for not getting you earlier, a matter came up that needed my immediate attention.” Lupin explained as they walked into the room. He closed the door and turned to Harry, smiling. “But today I have a good feeling.” 

With that they began the training and Harry was getting the same result as he was numerous times before. Frustrated, he took a deep breathe, calming him, and racked his brain for the best memory he had. It was something small, something he thought wouldn’t work, but he gave it a try. He lifted his wand and opened his eyes, that memory the only think in his head. 

“Expecto Patronum!” He exclaimed, and watched in awe as light shot out of his wand, creating a barrier in from of him. He was grinning from ear to ear, grateful for that one memory he held dear. Lupin, who smiling proudly at the display, stood up and applauded, walking over to Harry and patted him on the back proudly. 

“Very good Harry!” He exclaimed, watching the charm disappear, “Very good, you’ve just mastered a very advanced spell! Now are you ready to use it.” 

Harry looked up at him, a bit confused at the statement. “How? We can’t just go out a fight a dementor can we?” he asked, tilting his head slightly. 

Lupin turned, a playful grin on his face, as he dragged out a chest from the side of the room. “Well that’s why I have this” He said, pushing it a few feet away from Harry. 

“In this chest is a boggart, which will change into your worst fear as soon as it comes out of this chest,” He explained, walking over next to Harry, “I want you to cast that spell as soon as it comes out of the chest ok?”

Harry nodded and prepared himself, holding his wand in front of him. 

Lupin walked back over to the chest and knelt to the side of it, holding the lock. “Are you ready?” He asked, looking over at Harry. 

He nodded, keeping himself calm. “Yes” 

With that Lupin opened the chest and immediately the form of dementor flew out of it. It lingered over Harry for a moment before swooping down to strike at Harry. But Harry was faster and pointed his wand at the creature. “Expecto Patronum!” He screamed, light once again shot out of the wand and at them dementor, causing it to shriek in pain. Harry pressed and advanced on the dementor, forcing it to retreat back into the chest. Lupin immediately closed the chest, locking it, and shot up in joy.

“Harry that was amazing! Great job!” Lupin praised, walking over to the boy. 

Harry smiled sheepishly, embarrassed because of the praise. “Thank you for teaching it to me sir…” He said quietly, earning a laugh from Lupin. 

They both left the room and wandered the halls for some time before Lupin had to depart from him. He gave a wave as Lupin walked off, bolting for the court yard. He then went down the side of the hill and over to Hagrid’s hut, where Hermione and Ron still were. The three hung out with Hagrid for a while, catching up on some things and Harry was pestered about his training with Lupin that day. 

They bid farewell to Hagrid and for the rest of the day hung out in the Gryffindor town, catching up on previous work and playing a bit of wizard’s chest. They then went to dinners, where Harry noticed that now Link was present at the table and he had a very angry look on his face. He was confused as to why, but shrugged it off because the professor always seemed to look like that. 

After dinner, Ron discovered he misplaced his wand. They looked around the tower and coming up with nothing, concluded it must be at Hagrid’s hut. They quickly made their way down there before curfew came into effect. 

“We sat one those rocks before we left, so it should be there…” He said, pointing to the rocks that were a bit away from Hagrid’s home. 

Hermione rubbed her hands together and blew into them, keeping herself from freezing. “Ron can this wait until the morning?” She asked, shivering, “It’s freezing out here!” 

Ron turned to her and grinned and shook his head, “Hey I’m the whiny one in this group!” He joked, making Hermione chuckle a bit. 

Moving away from the obvious flirting, Harry walked over to the rock and looked around it. He scanned the area and noticed the wand squished between the rock and the ground, but was still intact. “Hey Ron, I think I found your wand” He said, picking it up and turning to the other two, waving it back and forth. 

Ron cheered and ran over to Harry who gave the red head the wand. Ron hugged it a bit and looked it over, smiling. “Sweet it’s not broken!” he exclaimed, “Let’s get back inside, it’s cold out here.” said Ron

Hermione rolled her eyes, she had just said that! The two boys walked over to her and they started making their way back to the castle when they heard a voice coming from behind them. 

“Leeaaviinng sooo soon…?” the voice hissed, sending shivers up the kids spines. 

The three turned towards the forest, where the strange voice had come from. They saw a humanoid-lizard like standing at least 2 feet taller than any of them, walking towards them. It wore a large skeletal type helmet, it wield a long swerving sword and small shield.

The creature moved closer, its tongue darting out from behind its helm. Seemingly smiling at the three young students. “It seems I have missed dinner tonight…” it said, moving closer to them, “and you three look to be a perfect snack to me.” 

The three immediately pulled out their wands, getting into a defensive pose. The Lizard like creature laughed at this, seeing no threats in the objects the kids were holding. 

Harry frowned, flick his wand towards the creature “What in the world are you and what do you want!” He asked in a commanding voice, glaring at the lizard. 

The Lizard snickered, cocking his head slightly. “Huh, for humans you sure are dumb. I just said I was going to eat you for dinner!” it exclaimed, then lunged at the unsuspecting Ron, who stepped back in surprise. 

“Stupefy!” He exclaimed, the spell hitting the lizards shield, making it stumble back slightly. Ron smirked at that, “Who’s the stupid one now?” he shot back, getting back into a defensive pose. 

The lizard glared at Ron, who then grabbed a small dagger from its side and threw it at Ron’s leg. Startled, Ron moved his leg just in time, the dagger missing it but slicing his pants leg. This caused him to lose his balance and he feel on his butt, stunned. 

Hermione ran over to him and knelt next to him. “Ron! Are you alright? Are you hurt?” she asked worriedly, looking over him. 

“Stupefy!” Harry exclaimed, his spell flying towards the lizard. He needed to keep it distracted while Hermione check on Ron, so he kept attacking, keeping the lizard at a distance. The only real threat the lizard had was that sword, and if Harry could keep it farther away, they should be fine. 

“You little punk!” it screamed, hissing at the boy, “Once I get my hands on you, you’ll be begging for mercy!” The lizard dodges his attacks with easy, but wasn’t able to get any closer to the boy. 

What the lizard didn’t notice was that Harry was distracting it from Hermione and Ron, who under the shadows of the night, positioned themselves behind the lizard for an attack. They stood a good distance away from the lizard waiting to make their move. 

The lizard dodge Harry’s attack once again and smirked, this was too easy. Suddenly, pain ravaged his back as he was flown forward, a few of his bones cracked in the process. 

The three students cheered silently for the hit and ran back over to Harry, still standing a good distance from the creature. 

“Agh you little brats!” It growled, clawing at the ground in pain, “How could I lose to such pathetic creatures such as you!?”

Harry pointed his wand at the creature, glaring down at it. “Who are you and what are you doing at Hogwarts?” He asked in a demanding tone. 

The lizard coughed up some blood as it chuckled a bit. “I was sent here by my master to find a certain man and you boy…” it paused, coughing again. “Have had a lot of contact with him, I can smell him on your body…” He sneered, chuckling darkly. 

“Who! Who are you working for?!” Harry exclaimed, gripping the wand tighter. 

At this the lizard laughed, blood trailing out its mouth. “Or what you’ll kill me?” it scoffed, grinning at the boy, “I bet you don’t have the guts to take someone’s life boy!” 

“He doesn’t… but I do.”

The trio quickly and the lizard monster turned around at the familiar voice as they watched Link walking down the hill, that fierce glare that was ever present on his face becoming darker by the second. 

“Well the hero of time shows himself at last!” the lizard snickered, its own blood starting to form a puddle underneath it. 

Link said nothing in response, quickly drawing out his sword as he made his way over to the trio. 

The lizard turned his attention to Harry, his grin becoming wider. “Heh listen well boy, you just got yourself involved in something you shouldn’t have! I’ll make sure that your life becomes a living hell!” It exclaimed, causing Harry’s eyes to widen slowly. 

Link snarled, brushing past the trio angrily. “Don’t you dare threaten my student! Now die!” He yelled, lifting his sword above his head to bring it down on the creature. 

“Not before I do this!” the lizard exclaimed and using the last of his strength, grabbing his sword from next to him and stabbing Link deeply in his right shoulder, causing the professor to hiss. But that didn’t stop him from bringing down his sword and killing the creature. The lizard withered away in the ground and Link dropped to one knee, dropping his sword as his hissed. 

“Professor!” The three students yelled as they came up behind him, kneeling next to him. 

“Ugh… that hurt.” He said through his clenched teeth, grabbing onto the monster’s swords hilt and ripped it from his shoulder, causing him to scream silently from the pain. 

Harry and Ron looked at each other and nodded both standing up. They each took one of the professor’s arms, Ron being extra careful because he had the right side, and put them around their necks, lifting him up as best they could. 

Link looked at both of them, surprised slightly, and then shook his hand smiling weakly. “Good job….you three….I guess…you do pay attention in my class.” He mumbled, chuckling. 

“You’ve taught us more then any other teacher before you, so of course we paid attention. But that doesn’t matter now; we need to get you back to the castle.” Harry said and he and Ron slowly turn themselves around to bring Link back up to the castle. 

Link stopped them for a moment and looked to the brunette, who was behind them. “Ms. Granger….if you will be…..so kind and retrieve my sword.” He asked quietly, hissing slightly, trying to hide his pain. 

She nodded “Yes professor.” She turned from the group and jogged over to the blood stained sword and picked it up. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as heavy as she thought it would be. She shook her head and caught up to the slow moving group, heading for the castle. 

“Professor what was that thing back there?” Ron asked as they walked up the hill, looking over at their worn out teacher. It was the first time Ron had seen him looking so tired before and that freaked him out more than the stares the professors would give him during class. 

“It’s a creature…from my country…very skilled and very deadly.” Link responded, and then smiled at the boy. “You all did…very good for fighting…it I’m proud-“ Link stopped coughing harshly, some blood coming out which brought the mothering nature out of Hermione. 

“Professor! You need to save your energy! We can talk about this later.” She said in a worried tone, motioning for the boys to pick up the pace a bit as they made it to the top of the hill. 

Link smiled weakly and nodded, listening to the younger girl. It was kind of silly, well he thought anyway, but she sort of reminded him of…

The group made there way into the castle where they brought Link into the infirmary. There Madam Pomfrey was shocked at his injuries, directing the two boys to quickly lay him down on a bed as she got her medical supplies together. She directed them to get rid of his robe and whatever else would get in the way. When they did that, Link motioned them to leave, saying that they shouldn’t have to worry about him. The Madam agreed and rushed the three out, closing the door right behind them. The three looked at each other and made their way back to the Gryffindor tower, not forgetting this night for a while.


	7. Enemies New and Old

Running was the only thing on his mind. He sprinted as fast as he could, blasting through loose branches and jumping over roots, fear his motivation. Harry could feel the sweat running down his face and his breathe was becoming more of a gasp. As he ran he took a quick glance back at the dark creatures following him. From what he could tell one of them was riding a horse while the other was almost like a rapidly moving mist. The creatures chased him through the forest for what seemed like an entirety. As Harry tried to maneuver through the over bearing trees, he tripped on a root, causing him to slam into the ground. It left him in a slight daze and his vision blurred, his glasses had fallen off and cracked slightly from impact. He quickly picked them up and tried to escape but fell down once again. 

One of the dark creatures chuckled breaking the silence, the other simply just stood over its victim. Harry quickly turned around, his eyes widening in terror. The horse that had been chasing him was black as night, its mane red and its body covered with armored plates. That’s not what frightened Harry though. It was the man on top of the horse, he was scared of because how huge it was! He wore a brownish leather cloth on his chest, black armor plates on the shoulders and his knees with spikes coming out from them. In its hand, the man carried a large trident type spear with an orange jewel in the middle of it. The worse was the man’s head; it was a human skull with large horns coming out of his forehead and glowing yellow eyes. Harry stumbled back into a tree realizing he had no escape from both the creatures that stood before him.

The man atop of the horse started to move closer towards Harry his trident skimming the ground as he chuckled. “That was most enjoyable to watch, you humans are so pathetic…” He taunted, stopping his horse and looking Harry over, “You are nothing but worms compared to my master, but at least you kept it interesting for me.”

Harry backed up slightly, trying his best not to shake. “Wh-what do you want?” He asked, his voice quivering slightly. 

The man, more like a creature, dismounted his horse and turned to the boy, his eyes gleaming. “It’s not what I want; it’s what my master wants. And he wants me take revenge on the human who killed his Lizalfos” the creature stopped for a moment staring down Harry “Though you aren’t the one who truly killed it you are the one who aided in its demise” The monster was now even closer to Harry looking down at the small boy “a little off topic how is Link doing? I enjoyed the news of his injury.”

If the monster could grin, it would be stretching from ear to ear in delight. Harry glared up at the creature and settled himself down, now showing no fear in this monster. He had faced worse before. “He’s doing fine. Once he gets better he’ll kill you like he did to that lizard thing.” He shot back. 

The monster stopped in front of him and chuckled again, delighted. “The little human has some backbone after all.” It said in a hoarse whisper. The creatures hand shot out and grabbed Harry’s neck, bringing him to eye level. 

Harry looked into the piercing yellow eyes of the creature, squirming to get free. He gasped for air as the hand of the creature squeezed his throat, his vision starting to darken around the edges. 

“I can promise you this child, Link will not kill me.” It hissed, “I will make him so weak with sorrow and anger he won’t be able to think straight. Then I’ll take my chance and thrust this spear into his heart.” It lifted the spear up slightly so that Harry could see it. 

At that moment the second creature began to laugh. It started as a low chuckle but it slowly started to become a dark demented laugh that echoed throughout the forest. Harry and the creature holding him looked towards the laugh. It was the creature that to Harry was nothing more than a black mist. 

The mist suddenly began to form into a solid human type form. Harry was suddenly let go by the creature holding him dropping to the ground disoriented him for a moment. 

“ARGH! What is so funny?!?!” The trident wielding monster screamed at the other.

As its form became more detailed Harry immediately tried to get up and run again. This was stopped when a metal chain suddenly wrapped around one of his ankles. Harry fell forward again, his momentum causing him to trip. He looked down to see the chain had come out of ground! Almost like it was…

The dark creature from the mist smirked widely “Surprise!” it yelled suddenly jumping next Harry, its dark red eyes staring at him “I can do magic too! Isn’t it fun hhmm?” the creature then strolled around gleefully. 

“Tell me Harry do you remember me? And be honest…” The creature slowly pulled out a long dagger that shined in the moon light sky. “I don’t like liars”

Harry was breathing heavily looking up at both the monsters. One he recognized as the one that threatened Professor Link a few weeks ago. The other he didn’t know but seemed very annoyed with its ally.

“You’re the monster from the professors class…he said you were only a fear! You’re not real!” Harry yelled grabbing his head trying to make the nightmare end.

Both monsters began to chuckle but it was Dark Link who took the next step. He knelt down next to Harry and calmly brushed a few stray hairs away from his face. 

“Shhhhsss child calling monsters who have you chained up can lead to some very….” Dark brought his dagger close to Harry’s face “painful results hehehe!”

The other creature slowly approached from behind grabbing Dark Link’s shoulder “Enough games we have to get this done”  
Dark Link smacked the arm away and turned towards the beast “Oh shut it you moron!”

The yellowed eye creature stumbled back slightly but immediately took a fight stance “Listen here you! Lord Ganondorf placed me in charge! Not you!” It almost screamed.

Dark Link then began to laugh again. He laughed for so hard that the other creature let down its guard watching the manic laugh. Harry at this point was just trying to get his ankle out of the shackle. 

“What is so funny?!?!” 

Dark Link’s laugh slowed and he even placed a hand on his chest to help calm down his breathing. “Oh it’s just what you said a minute ago hahaha it just doesn’t make any sense hahaha!” 

The yellow eyed monster gripped his trident tightly “What do you mean it doesn’t make sense! It makes all the sense in the world!” it yelled outstretching its arms in annoyance.

Dark Link stifled another laughing burst but still chuckled at the other creature “I mean hehe come on…” Dark cough in his hand “I will make him so weak with sorrow and anger he won’t be able to think straight. Then I’ll take my chance and thrust this spear into his heart.” Dark Link said in a complete mocking tone of the other creature. 

The yellowed eye creature grew furious at mockery “How dare you! You pathetic copy! Ill end you here and now!” it yelled.

Dark Link simply just laughed at the threat again. He then suddenly sat next to Harry who had been trying to escape missing out on most of what happened. 

Harry looked up at Dark Link his eyes staring down at him “Harry” the creature said point at the other creature “wouldn’t it be funny if I told you he was a copy of Ganondorf? Heheheh” Dark Link said laughing loudly as the now introduced Phantom Ganon simmered with anger. 

“Isn’t it ironic he calls me a pathetic copy? When he’s a copy himself” Dark Link looked at Harry expecting an answer, when all he got was a fear ridden face he became angry. 

Without warning Dark grabbed Harry’s face in one of his hands and forced him to look at his dark red eyes. “You will answer me!” Dark Link yelled at the boy.

“It..it …is ironic yes” Harry’s voice seemingly trembling with fear. 

“Enough of this Dark Link!” Phantom yelled “Whatever you may think of my plan we still must go through with it! One way or another” Phantom said aggressively grabbing Dark by the shoulder

Dark push off Phantom quickly “Fine fine, but just to let you know hurting this boy wouldn’t do anything significant to Link.” Dark said slowly going to the side of Phantom “What you’re talking about will require someone more personal to the hero…..Like his lovely wife and son, not some student”

Harry looked fearfully between the two creatures “No no the professor does care about us, he would do anything to protect us” he said nervously as both creatures began to approach him. 

Phantom let a light chuckle out as Dark again approached Harry “Oh really? You think he cares about you?” Dark grinned from ear to ear “When we threaten his wife and son, he will drop you like a loose weight!” Dark suddenly grabbed Harry’s neck pushing him to the ground. 

“Hehehehe he doesn’t really care about you Harry, he only acts like he does…do you want to know why?” Dark asked moving closer to Harry’s face. “It’s because he has to, if he wasn’t a teacher he wouldn’t give two shits to who you were”

Phantom walked over and stood above Dark and Harry “We need to hurry, our spell is beginning to grow weaker”.

“Oh of course time constraints I always forget about them hehe” Dark again showed Harry his dagger but this time closer to his face.

Harry’s breathing began to quicken looking at the sharp object. “What do you mean your spell? What’s going on!” 

Phantom and Dark merely laughed at the question “You are a slow student” Phantom said moving around Harry.

“This may all feel like a dream Harry” Dark Link said as he lightly dragged his dagger down Harry’s cheek making Harry flinch in pain. “But every scratch, cut and stab will feel sssooo real hehehehe” 

Harry’s eyes were filled with fear as he looked up at Dark Link who simply just smiled back “Oh don’t worry nothing will be permanent…however you will feel every bit of what I will do to you hehehe.” The dark voice echoed through Harry’s ears, instantly he tried to struggle and fight to the best of his ability. He thrashed in any direction he could, trying with great effort to punch or kick both creatures. He did this for what seemed like an hour. He finally stopped due to exhaustion but he was still looking up at both Dark Link and Phantom. 

Phantom gruffed at the boy “Go have your fun Dark I will report back to Lord Ganondorf” 

Dark smiled darkly at Harry. Slowly closing in on the chained student Dark grabbed Harry’s wrist and pressed it against the ground. He then brought his dagger next to his thumb. Dark smiled gleefully “Well then let’s get started!”.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry shot up, gasping, and whipped his head back and forth, his vision blurred. He quickly put on his glasses and saw through the darkness that he was in his dorm room. Sighing, he looked down at his shirt and saw it was covered in sweat, making him shiver. Then his body started to feel like it was one fire. His limbs felt like they had been sliced open. Harry bit back screaming, he curled up in his bed trying his best to resist the pain that had suddenly gone through his body. It felt his body was being ripped apart from all over. Harry couldn’t tell how long it lasted, but when the shock finally wore off it was sunrise. Though the not all the pain had left, it was now bearable to move. Harry grabbed his glasses looking around the room. 

‘What kind of spell was that? Why did it feel so real …’ Harry thought to himself as he glanced around the room. A tapping noise brought Harry out of his thoughts and he looked over to the window. Confused, he quietly got up and opened the window slightly and his eyes widened. At least 10 feet away from the castle, Phantom Ganon on his horse, seemed to hover in mid-air. 

If the creature could grin, it would be going from ear to ear as he kept his eyes on the young backed haired boy. “I hope you enjoyed your time with Dark Link. I assure you it won’t be the last.” It said, “You better hope that weak old man can protect you…because Ganondorf is coming for you as well boy and he wants blood!” snapping the reins on his horse and he galloped away from the caste, leaving no trace. 

Harry stood there for a moment, in shock and confusion. What had just happened? 

“Harry?” he was snapped out of his thought at his name. Harry turned and saw Ron, groggily looking at him from his bed. “What are doing mate? It’s 3 in the morning…” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. 

Harry told his friend it was nothing and Ron nodded a bit and rolled over, back to sleep. He walked back over to his bed, his legs shaking slightly, his body feeling a numbing a pain all over. All of the events of the year were making Harry a bit skittish, especially after that encounter. An encounter that felt so real but …but wasn’t. He crawled back into bed and layed there, looking up at the ceiling and slowly closed his eyes, which were begging for sleep. His eyes shot open, the only image appearing to him was that of Dark Link’s crimson eyes and his dagger. It felt like he was being cut open again from the dark creature. Harry sat on his bed attempting to take long controlled breathes, trying to calm himself. After another unknown spent amount of time he sighed in frustration and closed his eyes again, this time into a dreamless sleep. 

He woke up the next morning, groggy from the lack of sleep he got. He got up quietly, the boys in the room still in their beds. He quickly changed, and left the room. Leaving the tower, Harry’s thoughts were still on the dream he had and thought the only one he could talk to was professor Link. The creature he didn’t recognize knew him too and seeing the doppelganger again frightened Harry. He also wanted to see how Link was recovering from the other night. 

He walked into the infirmary and raised his eyebrows a bit. Professor Link was sitting up on the bed, a few pillows supporting his back, but that wasn’t the weird thing. The professor was also wearing glasses and reading a book. Link’s ears twitched a bit and he turned to see the young man approaching him. He put his book down on the table beside him and took of his glasses. 

“Harry what are doing up so early?” He asked as Harry pulled up a chair. Harry shifted a bit uncomfortably for a second, his eyes not making contact with the Hylians. 

Link took quick notice and leaned over to his student. “Potter what’s wrong? If there is anything I can do, all you have to do ask.” He said, putting his hand on Harry’s shoulder. 

Harry looked up and frowned a bit, but he did appreciate the comfort. He sighed, “Professor… last night I this dream… it felt so real,” he explained, “I woke up last night and…” he trailed off, trying to describe the creature. 

Link narrowed his eyes slightly and motioned for the boy to continue. “What happened last night?” he asked. 

Harry explained everything he had experienced, the phantom of Ganondorf, seeing the doppelganger of Link again and being tortured by it and to then seeing the real Phantom Ganondorf outside his window. Link would nod every now and again, his frown deepening at the mention of the phantom. 

He shook his head and looked down at his hands, which were balled into fists shaking with anger. “Harry I’m sorry” in hoarse whisper “I’ve somehow gotten you involved too much into this mess…” he whispered, shaking his head again. 

Harry sat there for a moment, surprised at the professor’s reaction, before shaking his head. “No professor it’s my fault. If I had just taken your advice everything would be fine.” 

Link looked up at the boy with a conflicted expression, “Still, now you’re in danger and you’re my student.” He whispered, slowly running his hand through his tangled hair. 

Harry started to say something when Madam Pomfrey walked into the infirmary, with a tray that had a bottle and bandages on it. She walked over to the bed and put the tray down and looked at the black haired boy. 

“Mr. Potter what are you doing here?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips. Madam Pomfrey didn’t want her patient being bothered when he needed rest that much Harry could see. 

He smiled sheepishly, “Just to keep the professor company.” he responded, earning a small smirk from the professor. 

She sighed, “Well if you don’t mind professor, I’m going to replace your bandages.” She said, turning towards the professor. 

Link glanced up at her, “Not at all madam.” 

She sat down and started to take off the old bandages, dropping them onto the ground. She put rubbing alcohol in a cloth and started to lightly rub it on the wound, making Link wince a bit. God he hated that stuff. Harry winced right along with him, that was not something he wanted done to him anytime soon. Madam Pomfrey wrapped new bandages one the professor and got up. After telling him to relax, she grabbed her tray and walked out of the room, leaving Harry and Link alone again. 

“Professor how long are you going to be in here?” Harry asked, watching Link roll his shoulder a bit, getting use to the new bandages he assumed. 

Link grinned a bit at that, startling Harry somewhat. “Only one more day, by then Madam Pomfrey will be fine with me leaving just my arm will be in a sling. I could have been out of here yesterday but the Madam was very persistent.” He explained, moving the blanket to reveal that one leg had been shackled to the bed. 

Harry stared for a moment and laughed. “I would call that persistent!” He exclaimed, leaning back in his chair. 

Link huffed, folding his arms. “You think? My ankle has been itching like hell and I can’t reach it!” He said in an annoyed tone, but smirked at the end of the sentence. 

He leaned over and placed his hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Potter go back to your tower and try and get some rest.” He said “however before you go can you go over to my satchel and get something for me?” the professor asked. Harry nodded looking to where Link had directed him. He found a small leather pouch and opened. When he reached in it felt odd as if he could fill his whole arm in it. 

Harry heard a soft laugh coming from Link “I know it feels weird at first but just move a little to the left and feel for a jar”

Harry did as he was told and felt a smooth glass object. He grabbed it and pulled it out for the professor. Harry looked at the chair briefly and saw a small floating red orb inside. 

“Whoops! Wrong one I forgot I had that haha” Link said scratching the back of his neck “Just put that one back and find one with a red liquid in it”

Harry looked through the pouch for another minute before finding what Link had told him to find. He held it up getting an approving knod from his professor. 

“So what do I do with it” he asked?

Link laid back in his bed “Drink it, it will help with the pain your feeling” Link watched as Harry drank the potion. Within a few seconds the boy looked to be feeling better. “Potter” Link said quickly grabbing the student’s attention. “I promise those two bastards won’t hurt you again.” Link’s eyes grew somewhat dark and cold when saying that.

Harry smiled slightly, nodding. “Yes professor.” 

Link patted his shoulder again and shooed the boy away. Harry nodded and got up, leaving the professor to his own thoughts. Harry walked through the castle and walked back to the tower. He made it back to his bed and laid down, closing his eyes and letting sleep take over him. 

Another snow had fallen over Hogwarts as students stood excitedly in the court yard. The professors gathered the students for the trip to Hogsmeade, just in time for the holidays. Harry watched on from the inside of the castle, seeing Hermione and Ron walk off with the fellow students, frowning. Because of the fiasco with his aunt at the beginning of the year, he never got his permission slip signed. He sighed and turned to walk down the hall, thinking what he could do to past the time. Suddenly he felt himself being grabbed and dragged in the opposite direction. He panicked and looked up, to see the culprits to be Fred and George, who dragged him down behind the stairwell.

“What are you doing?! Get off me!” He cried, shaking of the twins. He turned towards them, confused, and was greeted by the matching grins of the twins. 

“Calm down Harry we had to bring you back here so they didn’t see us.” George said, shushing him, glancing around the surrounding area. 

“Why does it matter?” Harry asked curiously. These two were always up to something, but it never involved Harry. What could it be to get him involved? 

“Well we got something for you and let’s say it’s not totally school legal.” Fred replied, his grin widening. 

George then pulled out a large folded piece of paper from his robes and handed it to Harry, who stared at it in confusion. 

“It’s called the Marauder’s Map!” George explained, whipping out his wand, “It shows every passageway within the school, hidden or not. It also shows passageways out of the school.” 

“It also shows the location of every single person on campus.” Fred added. 

“It even shows a secret passageway to Hogsmeade!” Fred and George said in unison, something the Weasley twins were known for. George then tapped the paper, and demonstrated to Harry how to use it and how to hide it from others. 

“Wow this is….amazing! How can I thank you guys?” Harry said excitedly, looking at both of the twins. 

Fred and George laughed together and patted Harry on each should. “Oh don’t worry we’ll think of something!” Fred said, winking. Harry nervously laughed, now he regretted saying that. 

The twins waved goodbye and ran off back into the castle, Harry not wanting to know what they were up to. He rushed off to the tower and grabbed his invisibility cloak. He took out the map and made his way down to the tunnel that would lead him to Hogsmeade. He uncovered the pathway and threw the cloak on and walked quickly down the hidden passage way. The passage way was dark, so he walked carefully until he saw a bit of light coming up. He pushed up the tile that was covering the exit and keeping the cloak on, he climbed up and walked out of the building the exit was in. 

He walked around, cloak on so no one would see him, and came across Hermione and Ron. He made his way over to them and tapped Hermione’s shoulder, startling her. Both of them turned around and saw Harry, who had quickly revealed himself. He told them about the map that Fred and George had given him and though Hermione scolded him about such an item, all three of them enjoyed their time at Hogsmeade together. They entered one Hogsmeade many taverns and Ron ordered a mass amount of food for himself. 

“Ron, honestly, the amount of food you consume is ridiculous! I’m surprised you haven’t gained any weight at all.” Hermione stated, shaking her head at him as he dove into the food. 

Ron rolled his eyes as he swallowed his food. “Oh shut it Hermione I’m allowed to eat as much as I want! I don’t just eat; I save most of the stuff for later, like the animals do for hibernation.” Ron explained, trying to outsmart the brunette as he took a drink. 

Hermione groaned, trying her best not to slam his head into the table. “Ron they do that so once they wake up they don’t die of starvation!” She exclaimed, her frustration level rising from just discussing the topic. 

Harry just laughed at his friends bickering. He was still under the invisibility cloak, to keep hidden from teachers that may be around. He looked around the room and noticed Cornelius Fudge and Professor McGonagall walking towards the back door of the tavern. 

Suspicious, Harry took off without letting Hermione and Ron know and hurried off to where the two adults went. He quietly entered the room and stood to the far side, also taking notice that Remus and Link were also in the room. Link was sitting off to the corner of the room, reading a book while Lupin stood near the fireplace, his arms crossed. 

Lupin moved from his spot and walked over to Fudge, shaking his hand. “Cornelius, good to see you.”

“Likewise Remus, now that where all here we can discuss this problem” Cornelius said, sitting down in a nearby chair. McGonagall sat across the room from him and glanced over at Link, who was still reading. 

“Sirius Black is still on the loose and not even the Dementors can track him,” He explained, looking around the room, “This is number one priority of the Ministry to find him. That is why I ask the assistance of Hogwarts, since he was last sighted in this area.” 

McGonagall’s eyes narrowed slightly at his words, “What do you mean by assistance?” she asked, suspicious. 

Cornelius looked over at her and waved her off, trying to break that suspicion. “Not so much the school, what I mean is….Professor Link’s assistance in the search.” He explained, turning his attention to the Hylian. 

“Just curious why are you choosing me…” Link said, not taking his eyes of the book as he turned the page. These types of meetings never held interest for him, so he was pretty bored at the moment. 

Cornelius frowned slightly at this; this was one person he just couldn’t read. To him, the Hylian didn’t look that tough, but something radiated off him, something he couldn’t pinpoint. “The ministry wants results and results are what we haven’t gotten. So I feel a new approach is needed and what better way to start this new approach with a Hylian.” He explained with a strained smile, trying his best to convince the blonde haired man. 

“Ha a Hylian” his voice filled with annoyance “You almost hate saying the word, actually making the attempt to acknowledge our existence” he flipped another page in his book “It must hurt you in some way to do that” There was an awkward quiet, the only sound was the page of a book being flipped, the silence was broken when Link spoke again. “Am I killing him or capturing him?” Link asked, still not looking up from his book, “And it does matter, trust me.” 

Lupin, who hadn’t looked at the Hylian the whole time, scoffed at that. “I’m sure you would prefer killing him.” He said, turning to glare at Link. 

Link snapped his book shut, putting it away within his robs. He stood up, moving his robs over his sling, and walked over to Lupin, stopping a few feet in front of him. His piercing blue eyes glared daggers into the former student, not saying one word. He quickly turned his head over to Cornelius, who yelped slightly at the glare, but tried to hide it. 

“I will start searching once my arm is healed.” He said darkly, “Until then you and your ministry will have to wait.” With that, Link moved away from Lupin and walked out of the door, slamming it loud enough as he left. 

Lupin crossed his arms, distaste all over his face. “I don’t like him.” He said, looking over at Fudge, who was still fidgeting in his chair. 

He coughed in his hand and settled himself, looking at the two others in the room. “Now with that out of the way I need to discuss something with you two. New information on murder of James and Lily Potter has just come up.” He explained, earning a shocked look from Lupin.

“What do you mean new information?” He asked, frowning deeply. 

“A confession was made at Azkaban; the prisoner stated that Sirius was the one responsible for revealing the location of James and Lily Potter to He Who Must Not Be Named.” Cornelius explained in a hushed voice, glancing back and forth between Lupin and McGonagall, “The prisoner said he witnessed the whole thing, he also went on to say Sirius is responsible for the murder of Peter Pettigrew.” 

McGonagall sat in a bit of shock, shaking her head, “Oh my word, if that is true Potter could be in serious danger.” She whispered in a concerned tone. 

“Where is he now?” Cornelius asked, looking over to the Professor. 

“He’s at Hogwarts right now.” Lupin answered hoarsely, a dark expression on his face. If only this idiot knew.

Cornelius nodded, not taking in Lupin’s expression. “This information must not be known to him, if he finds out I fear the boy will try to avenge his parents.” 

They three continued to talk, not taking not that the door had quickly opened and closed itself. Harry quickly ran through the tavern, knocking people out of his way, and he running out of the building. He ran through the town until he reached the outskirts, where he threw off his clock and dropped to his knees. Hot tears ran down his face as he sobbed Fudge’s words running through his mind. 

“I’m…going to kill him.” Harry whispered hoarsely as he continued to cry, repeating the phrase over and over again as he sat by himself. Revenge was the only thing on his mind and no one was going to get in his way to find Sirius Black.


End file.
